Beltane Child
by White Angel of Auralon
Summary: Harry needs some time to let his guard down in the war. So he goes to a celebration just before he, Ron and Hermione plan to get Hufflepuff's Cup from Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. Who could have guessed what the consequences would be?
1. Magic of Beltane

**Hi, this is my newest story. To start it off the usual disclaimer: I don't own anything about Harry Potter, just the idea of this little twist. **

**Summary: What if Harry needed a small break before he went after the horcrux hidden at Gringotts? What if he went to a special celebration not recognised by anybody and experienced an unforgettable night that had more than one special result?**

**Pairing: Harry / Daphne**

**This story will contain lime, therefore the rating. Hope you like my newest idea. Happy reading.**

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**Magic of Beltane**

It was strange. Here he was, pondering how to go about finding and destroying the last of Voldemort's horcruxes. Ron and Hermione were off to the side, talking quietly. Since Ron had returned he had managed to get back into her good books. They had finally got together after the Malfoy Manor disaster. The only downside was that he was incredibly jealous that Ron had somebody he loved with him now and he, Harry, was alone again. His two best friends were off in a world of their own. They had planned to go to Gringotts tomorrow to get the horcrux from the Lestrange vault. Griphook would help them get past the security measures in exchange for Gryffindor's sword. As long as he could destroy the horcrux first that was okay. Fleur had said that Hermione still needed a bit of rest after her ordeal at Malfoy Manor. How he wanted to destroy those bastards.

He had seen that today was the thirtieth of April. Beltane, Fleur had mumbled and looked at Bill suggestively. He knew surprisingly what this date meant in the wizarding world. It was a powerful magical date in the old religion and after what he had experienced with the Dursleys who were Christians he wasn't that enthused about believing in their religion. Even if other Christians were different perhaps. The history of that religion with burning supposed witches and wizards on the stake wasn't something he wanted to follow. He knew that tonight fires would burn all over the country protected from muggles by strong repelling wards. Witches and wizards would dance around the fires and celebrate the awakening of the earth after the winter and bless the earth with their unions in passion. He knew that this night was going to have lots of couples have heated sex, but it didn't trouble him.

He could easily accept that couples wanted to celebrate their relationships. Blessing the earth in an act that represented fertility since the beginning of time was more logical than a virgin giving birth to a child in his opinion. He only wished that he could spend this day with his girlfriend. But he had let Ginny go for her safety, noble idiot that he was, so he had nobody to share the day with. He considered sneaking away for the night, Bill and Fleur would be away and Ron and Hermione wouldn't miss him unless he wasn't back in the morning. And the Death Eaters would be the last people that would look at him at a Beltane fire. If he could only dance there and let himself go for a few hours it would give him new energy to continue his fight.

* * *

Daphne Greengrass hated her situation. Thanks to her parents not wanting to be seen to stand against the Dark Lord and his minions they had entered her into an arranged marriage with one of the Death Eaters. Now she knew that as a pureblood witch from a moderately important house she should be happy with getting a respected pureblood wizard as her husband. The problem with that was just that she was seventeen and her husband to be thirty nine. He was twenty two years older than her and had already had one wife that had died in mysterious circumstances. Walderan Pillomis was also known as a philanderer that liked to target young girls. She shuddered thinking what he would do to her if she really had to marry him.

Tonight was Beltane and like many of her friends at school she knew what the date meant. It was the time where the goddess and the horned warrior came together to bless the earth with fertility for the next year. Every year a young witch was chosen to play the part of the goddess and a young wizard would be chosen to be her partner. Normally she wouldn't have even considered taking the place of the goddess but she didn't want her first time to be with Walderan. While losing your virginity to anybody but your husband was scandalous, the one exception in that was being chosen as the goddess of the Beltane rites. She wouldn't know her partner, neither would he know who she was, but at the moment she couldn't care less. She was taking a contraceptive potion anyway so the risk of getting pregnant didn't exist. Those potions were a necessary precaution in case any of the more rambunctious Slytherins came at her in high numbers and she couldn't prevent the worst. This year some others had sadly been in that position. So far her reputation had protected her.

She had been asked to be the goddess before, but this time she had decided to accept. She had got permission to leave Hogwarts for two days from Professor Snape stating that she planned to attend the Beltane rites. As she was of age and Beltane was special to the wizarding world she got her permission. She was currently standing in front of her mirror, inspecting her perfect body in the scandalously revealing dress that was the attire of the goddess. The silver dress hugged her curves perfectly and ended slightly below her butt. The only thing holding it together was a simple chain taking the place of a belt. But it could easily be taken off. As per tradition she didn't wear any underwear under the dress and she had to say it was arousing. Tonight she would spite her parents and her so-called betrothed. Nobody could take any action against her when she was the chosen goddess of Beltane.

* * *

Harry reappeared in the wood close to the Beltane site. The fire had just been lit and the first couples arrived, giggling over what they were about to do tonight. He had put up some basic glamours and put in some contact lenses that he had got from a muggle optician after escaping Malfoy Manor. He had been recognised thanks to his glasses and black hair. Not to mention that without his glasses he couldn't see and was blind like a mole, so getting something better was a smart idea. His hair was red like his mother's right now and his scar hidden under a flesh coloured headband. Nice what you could find in a muggle shop. He had to admit he had stolen the headband as their money was needed for food. The contact lenses he had got through obliviating the optician afterwards but he planned to make sure that the money would be transferred to him if he survived this war. He heard voices to his left.

"What do you mean, he reconsidered it?" One man said frantically.

"He said he had found a girlfriend and wanted to attend the Beltane celebration with her and could therefore not play the horned warrior." The other man said resigned. "Just where do we get a replacement on this short notice?"

"I don't know, but I can't take the place because I am married, same for you. The horned warrior has to be unmarried and preferably young." The first man said.

Harry then was noticed.

"Coincidence?" The second man asked.

"No, just our lucky star helping us out. He you, are you here with a girl?" The first man called out to Harry.

"Uh, no, I hoped I would simply get to dance with a few at the fire. More I hadn't really planned." Harry admitted.

"Well, today is your lucky day; you are going to be the main actor in tonight's celebration. You aren't married, are you?" The first man asked and got a shake from Harry's head in reply.

Harry seriously considered if it had been a good idea to come here tonight.

"You see, our friend that was meant to take the place of the horned warrior decided to get a girlfriend at the worst possible time and now we need a replacement really fast. The girl that is going to play the goddess is really hot, so you won't regret this. Come on, we need to get you into the right attire." The second man said and dragged Harry off.

Harry decided that simply going with it would be less suspicious than refusing as he would have to answer questions.

* * *

Daphne sat on her throne watching over the dancing couples. It was nearly time for the horned warrior to appear. She only hoped that he was good-looking and would be gentle with her. It was exciting to not know who her first would be but that was the magic of Beltane. Finally the drums were beaten and the dancing couples opened the way for the horned warrior. Daphne saw him approaching. He only wore leather pants and boots, his upper body was bare, showing a slightly muscular chest and stomach. All in all, not bad. His face was hidden under a half mask in black, representing his role. She herself wore one as well in silver. She stood up from her throne and glided down to greet her warrior. They met next to the fire and following tradition she started to ensnare him with her dance. He played his part well, she had seen worse performances in the past when she had been allowed to attend the dance but was sent home before the sexual act started.

She knew where the retreat was placed where she and the warrior would unite their bodies. It was a clearing surrounded by stones that were engraved with old runes. Runes that would transport the magic their union would free into the earth to bless it for the next year. The more others did the same in other places around here the better the harvest for the year would be. She felt him pulling her close to his body, rubbing himself against her, making her shiver in expectation. They played their game for half an hour before she was hosted over the young man's shoulder and he carried her away to the retreat. He was stronger than she had expected.

She was let down when they reached the retreat. Here it was silent and the sounds of the celebrating couples couldn't be heard, silencing runes around the place she supposed. He started to sensually caress her body. Oh yes, this would be good. If he didn't want to get to it at once she could expect to get at least a bit of pleasure. He slowly kissed down her neck and spent special attention to her pulse point which made her moan in delight. This felt so good. He then went up and claimed her lips while pressing her against his hard body. His hands wandered up and down her back while her hands found their way into his short but soft hair. She thought he had had red hair before, but that could have been her imagination in the light of the fire. His hair was definitely black.

She was dazed once he stopped kissing her mouth. He really knew how to do it. She then decided that as the goddess she had to seduce him a bit as well and before he could start kissing her again she nibbled on his ear, whispering promises of pleasure into his ear while exploring his upper body with her hands. He seemed to especially like it when she played with his nipples, so she decided to play a bit more. She went down bending her knees to have her mouth at the level of his nipples and started circling them with her tongue which made him hiss in pleasure. She wandered further down and undid the buckle of his leather belt. She then opened the threats that closed his pants and shoved her hand into them, feeling his hardened cock in her hand. He moaned loudly when she started stroking it.

She had to grin, her grandmother had been right that a girl could control a man if she only knew how to pleasure him properly. She then was surprised when he pulled her up again and undid her chain belt. He dress now flowed very loosely and he easily pushed it upwards, exposing her completely. His hungry look made her shudder. He started to take off his boots and pants never leaving her out if his eyes. The only thing both of them wore in the end were the black and silver masks as it was tradition. They wouldn't find out who the other was except anybody told them afterwards and that was simply not done except a child was conceived and she had taken a potion for that.

* * *

Harry was delighted to have such a beautiful girl playing the goddess. First he had been freaked out by his strange luck. But now he was strangely calm. He hadn't gone farther than snogging with Ginny but he somehow knew instinctively what he had to do to make his goddess feel pleasure. And he wanted to make this nice for her. While he was a virgin he had heard from other boys talking, mainly Seamus, that the best way to keep having good sex was putting the girl's pleasure before your own. And the Irish boy was one of the biggest players at school. He looked at her perfect body greedily. He wanted to taste her, feel her and make her his. He knew he should feel bad over Ginny, but right now he couldn't care less. He was the horned warrior and she was the goddess. They would unite and bless the earth.

He finally got out of all of his clothes and stepped towards her. He started kissing all over her body while holding her close to him by her butt. She had a really great butt. Firm and round but fitting her body perfectly. And don't get him started on her breasts. They were milky white, round and so soft. And she made such cute squealing sounds when he took her nipples into his mouth. And her moans turned him really on. He let his hand slip down to her womanhood and caressed the wet area with his fingers, teasing her, earning more moans and gasps. Finally after he was sure that she was ready he placed her down on the blanket that had been placed here for them. He only hoped that he wouldn't make a fool of himself for his inexperience in this.

* * *

Harry returned to Shell cottage at four in the morning, grinning like a loon. This night had been the best of his life. It was a shame that he didn't know the girl's name, but it was for the best. No girl should be in danger because he had coincidentally been chosen to play the horned warrior. Harry Potter was too dangerous right now to be known to have been with anybody, even if it had been Beltane. The one thing he was worried about was the shrieking sound so similar to the horcruxes being destroyed that had come from his scar if he had located it right when he had had his orgasm into the girl that was his partner. Why would his scar behave like a destroyed horcrux?

* * *

Daphne lay happily in her bed in the Greengrass mansion. The horned warrior while he seemed to be slightly unsure if he did everything right in the beginning after he had entered her had been gentle and a perfect lover. She knew that she wouldn't ever see him again, but her first time had simply been perfect.

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**Okay, this was the beginning. I will probably update this every weekend. Please tell me what you think. Till next time.**


	2. Battle Aftermath

**Hi, I'm back for the next chapter. I'm happy that I got so much positive feedback on this new story already. Enjoy the next chapter.**

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**Battle Aftermath**

It was over, the war was over. They had really won. He stood over his fallen foe, looking down on him, seeing in the lifeless eyes that had haunted his nightmares that it was really and finally over. Now Harry was doubly glad that he had been at the Beltane fire and had been chosen as the horned warrior. Dumbledore the bastard had known that Harry was the last horcrux. Yeah, the old man had really had a way to give him half-truths. Voldemort unintentionally had transferred some of his powers into Harry when he gave him the scar. Such a nice way to circumvent telling Harry the horrible truth. He had been manipulated into becoming a martyr. Now he also understood why he never got any proper training. Why give the boy who had to die for Voldemort to die any real hope that he might survive the war. Well, that hadn't been true anymore after Beltane.

After Harry had seen Snape's memories he had first been shocked, but once he remembered that incident he knew that somehow he had destroyed the horcrux in the ceremony. What did Dumbledore say; love was a power Voldemort didn't know? Newsflash, while Harry definitely had felt something for the woman who had been the goddess he wouldn't go as far as saying it was true love. How could you love somebody who didn't know? But possibly the combination of the magic of Beltane with his own feeling fully content and his passion had done the trick. It destroyed a horcrux. It opened the question if it would have been able to get rid of it earlier if he had only not been left at the Dursleys. If his positive feelings were a base for this small miracle then the suffering he had gone through at privet Drive could only have helped the horcrux tying itself to him.

Thankfully it had been destroyed and therefore he hadn't gone to meet Tom in the Forest but had prepared some nasty surprises. While the horcrux had been gone, thanks to having had that cursed soul piece stuck in his head for most of his life he had managed to still glimpse into Voldemort's head and had seen him ponder the hiding places of the horcruxes just after the Gringotts break-in. Harry supposed that it had been some kind of echo of the connection. Like when you have had an injury for a while and once it was healed you still felt phantom pain at odd times. And what had been said about curse scars? They left marks on the body, sometimes invisible ones. Contrary to former 'visions' Harry didn't feel the terrible pain anymore when he had those flashes. A definite plus in his opinion. After the mess of getting the diadem of Ravenclaw from the Room of Requirement only the snake remained and nothing could block the killing curse.

At least that had been plan A. The problem was that Harry for some reason couldn't get the curse to work properly. He knew that Nagini had to die and he definitely saw nothing wrong with that but he simply couldn't bring himself to really mean that vile curse. The only unforgivable that had ever worked for him was the Imperius curse. Probably because it was the only one that didn't leave major damage to the person just by being cast. There was something in his magic that refused to do that. Not that he had any problems using other destructive curses but nothing that required the true desire to only harm a person. So while he hadn't had any success with training the AK, he remembered how nasty sectumsempra was and that one he could perform.

So he had faced Voldemort who had Nagini in her protective shield and shot the curse straight at the snake. While that hadn't worked completely he had broken the cage. For some reason Tom had brought the Sorting Hat next to Hagrid who was his prisoner, and Harry hadn't wasted any time, summoned it before putting it on and asking for the sword to come to him again. Like in his second year the hat delivered the sword to Harry and he darted forwards, cutting the snake in half with the sword, getting rid of the last horcrux.

Neville had then used the opportunity and followed Harry's example and quickly fired a sectumsempra, but on Bellatrix Lestrange who had stood on some rubble to mock the defenders of the castle better. Harry had given out the word that they needed to make sure that the Death Eaters couldnt stand up again after being stunned and killing more of their side because the Light didn't make sure that their opponents were out of the fight for good. After the year that the ones that had been at Hogwarts had been through most didn't have any problems with the order. And those that couldnt get themselves to kill could at least break bones or cut limbs to take their opponents out. After the deaths they had witnesses even more hesitations left the fighters. The Death Eaters were here to fight and kill innocents. Children meant nothing to them. So taking them out permanently was no loss in anybody's opinion. It had been Bellatrix's death as Neville's curse hit her throat before she even raised her wand. The battle that followed was fast paced. Harry knew that the wand didn't properly obey Voldemort thanks to having overheard how Snape had died in the Shrieking Shack. Harry had always been good at putting clues together. The Elder wand belonged to Harry because he had defeated his former master which ironically was Draco Malfoy who had disarmed Dumbledore before Snape had killed him.

Now Harry didn't play around anymore. Voldemort had to die and while the Elder wand probably wouldn't work against Harry, cutting the dark bastard that was responsible for so many of Harry's loved ones being dead into pieces with the spell that Snape had created seemed like poetic justice. While the curse hadn't hit Voldemort but the fired AK, Voldemort's AK was reflected again and Harry caught the wand that wouldn't work against his true master. Irony. Voldemort who had feared a prophecy and saw it as his destiny to rule fell because the Wand of Destiny didn't truly belong to him. He looked around and found the faces of his friends that had fought by his side. He saw the devastation that the battle had brought to Hogwarts. There would be a lot of work to do before this would be the school he loved again.

* * *

Daphne was happy, really happy. The Daily Prophet was announcing the victory of Potter and the forces of the Light in a historic battle at Hogwarts. There were articles about his fight against You-Know-Who and four whole pages for all victims of the war with dates of death and how and where they had died. She suspected that there would be a lot more coming up in the future. Normally she should be sad and afraid of what the future would bring now, with her parents having been on You-Know-Who's side even if they weren't marked Death Eaters, but in the battle of Hogwarts her hated fiancé had died, killed by a member of the Order of the Phoenix. She didn't know who had killed him but the important part was that he was dead. The Dark Lord was dead and her parents couldn't force her anymore to marry any of his followers. They would be lucky to stay out of prison with how Potter and Shacklebolt were rounding up supporters of the monster. She and the other Slytherins had left the castle after Pansy had pointed out that they had Potter to hand over to the Dark Lord when he gave his first ultimatum. Secretly she had hoped that her fiancé would die, but she had never voiced that. She would have to wait and see who had survived the battle and then she could start planning her life. She was of age so placing her in a new marriage contract against her will wasn't possible anymore.

* * *

Harry couldn't understand Ginny. She seemed to be so shallow suddenly. She tried to drag him to numerous parties that only seemed to happen to boast about the remaining wealth of the hosts. Didn't people have better things to do, like rebuilding their world? Voldemort and his Death Eaters had destroyed more than just buildings like the Rookery, they had torn families apart, many people didn't know where to get something to eat because they had lost the one earning the money. Children were orphaned and needed families to take them in. With the high numbers of important members of their world that had been Death Eaters and were now put on trial if they had survived, and this time under veritaserum as Harry insisted on that part to not have Death Eaters get away with a slap on the wrist again only to try and destroy their world again in a few years, their old way of living just didn't work out anymore.

He knew that some did it to deny that change was coming, some to numb their pain over their losses, but really, the people needed to get their heads pulled out of the sand. Playing ostrich hadn't worked for Fudge when he had been Minister, it wouldn't work for them as well. Did they think that he had an easy time dealing with the images that haunted his dreams? Couldn't Ginny see that he had trouble finding back into normal life? He had been cut off from everything for nearly a year. He had been hunted down like an animal and only Hermione's planning ahead had prevented that he had been caught before he could finish Voldemort off once and for all. He had seen horrors of the war and had been forced to never really experience normal life because an old man couldn't do his job properly. Harry's wishes hadn't been important to Dumbledore, only his great plan.

The Ministry was cleaning house under Kingsley and everybody was questioned for his or her involvement with the terror rule of the past year. And here Ginny thought that it was okay to go to stupid parties where he was shown around like a prized poodle? No, that wasn't what he wanted. He had been happy that he got back together with her after the final battle but she had changed so much. Most of his friends that had been forced to attend Hogwarts had but the others had matured and seen that there were more important things in life than personal comfort. Neville especially had changed. He was the true leader of the students at Hogwarts. He had protected them, had been their shield. He had not only killed Bellatrix in the battle but numerous other Death Eaters. One year under the Carrows had hardened the boy Harry had known into the man that everybody looked up to.

Luna also had lost some of her dreamy qualities even if she didn't show the signs of suffering under the Death Eaters openly as much as others. Ginny had been part of the resistance too, she had been one of their leaders but for some reason she didn't seem to grasp what was really important right now. He didn't need a girl who looked pretty on his arm, he needed somebody that could deal with him doing what was necessary and giving up hours to prevent that history repeated itself. Nobody had done the unpleasant task of interrogating Death Eaters properly. Terrorists didn't deserve mercy if they weren't repentant. They needed to be questioned on all possible other supporters of Voldemort and then either get executed or locked away where they couldn't get out for life. And as much as he hated being at the front of that he needed somebody who helped him deal with the trouble.

Ron seemed to also be an idiot most of the time and boasted with his role in the fall of Voldemort. Why Hermione didn't stop him he also didn't get. She normally would be the first one to scold Ron and remind him that much work was still to be done before they could really enjoy their newfound freedom. Perhaps she just didn't want to strain their still fresh relationship.

So to get some peace Harry had moved into Grimmauld Place and had started together with Kreacher to get the old house to look like a home. The manual work helped him direct his mind on something different than all the people that had died. He knew that brooding all day didn't do him any good. He had gone through that after Cedric's and Sirius' deaths. He had torn off old wall-paper, tiles with horrible motives had to go and overall the house needed more light in Harry's opinion. Kreacher had taken down the portrait of Mrs Black and relocated it to the attic where he was allowed to set up a small shrine for his memories of the house of Black, which was gone, and the other portraits were placed in stasis if they also sprouted the pureblood mania nonsense. Harry really had no patience for that nonsense anymore.

It took him two months but after that the house wasn't recognisable anymore. He and Kreacher had also changed the setup of some rooms so that the house was friendlier for a family to live in. Before it was more an imposing statement of self-importance instead of a home where you wanted to raise children. And sometime in the future Harry wanted to have a wife and children. Now the only official rooms in the house were Harry's study and the dining room. And the second one was less formal just simply functional with less decoration that made it a family room.

* * *

Daphne sat stoically in the visitor's ranks of the Wizengamot when her father was questioned about his contributions to Voldemort's war. He was lucky that he hadn't accepted the dark mark but his crimes during the war would gain him some years at Azkaban. There was no doubt about that. Other collaborators of the Death Eaters had been sent there for up to five years so far and they had mostly been responsible for ratting out muggleborns, financing Death Eater projects and supplying information on dissidents. Her father meanwhile had been as bad as a Death Eater, supplying potions to torture their captives, financing them overall, sharing their ideas and torturing muggleborns when they were found guilty of stealing magic by the Muggleborn Registration Committee. He had had part in sending them to the horrible camps where they were systematically tortured and killed. Or the really unlucky ones, pretty girls and women, that were sent to brothels for the Death Eaters and their supporters and forced to serve them day for day until they were deemed too used and sent to said camps.

She had been sick when Harry Potter had revealed the true sickness of what Voldemort had done. She couldn't imagine why her father would have wanted to be involved with anything like that. Using opportunities to further your own position was one thing, that was simply the Slytherin nature, but supporting mass murder and torture? That was simply sick and she had distanced herself massively from it. Her step-mother was useless in the current situation, wailing over her lost status. As if there weren't more important things to concentrate on; like surviving the raging storm of the present fairly unscathed.

And she needed to be incredibly clever right now. She had to her horror found out that she was pregnant. It shouldn't be possible, but the healer at St. Mungo's was sure that she was a little over two months pregnant. She could only think of one occasion where it could have happened. The Beltane celebration. That was the only time she had had sex with anybody. But she had taken a contraceptive potion to prevent just this. So far nobody but the healer who was sworn to secrecy by her oaths knew of her situation. She needed to quickly find a way to be safe from any accusations of being a whore and cheating on her fiancé. She knew she would have to set this up correctly. The healer had been excited hearing that the child had been conceived on Beltane. Her child was sure to be powerful, any child conceived during the blessing of Beltane was.

But her family mustn't find out too early on or they would try to force her to abort her child and that was not an option for her. Aborting a Beltane child was as bad as using dark magic. A Beltane child was a blessing not something to be ashamed of. The problem was finding out who the father was and then hoping that he would acknowledge the child. While nobody would call a Beltane child a bastard, her situation would be difficult if she didn't have some financial support. Raising a child on your own was hard and for an unmarried witch even harder. And she had no illusions that her sister, who was contracted to Draco Malfoy, wouldn't use this weakness to get control over the Greengrass fortune. No, she needed to act before anybody could find out about the child.

* * *

Harry was exiting the meeting room of Gringotts. He was surely relieved that he wouldn't have too much trouble with the goblins. After reporting the events that had led to the theft of the cup from the Lestrange vault under veritaserum, well the goblin version that didn't allow you to keep anything secret even if it wasn't asked, he was cleared of stealing for personal gain. Griphook didn't get away as well as Harry; he was executed for being instrumental to the damage done to Gringotts. The goblins were angrier that he had let humans know how to get by their security precautions and then not kept his word than the possibility of the true theft. If only the cup, which was an abomination that was forbidden to be stored inside of any Gringotts vault, would have been taken, they could have kept it under wraps but the massively visible escape of Harry and his friends on the dragon wasn't something that could be hushed up and it was bad for business. People lost trust if they weren't sure that their valuables were safe at the bank. Harry was fined five thousand galleons for his act as the damage was already paid by the Ministry of Magic on orders of Minister Shacklebolt. Harry knew that the only reason that he was still alive and had kept his inheritance was that he had been after a horcrux and had come to face goblin justice. Goblins hated horcruxes with a passion as dark wizards tended to ruin priceless treasure in making them.

In the hall he met a young woman that looked really tense. He thought he knew her. Ah, yes, she was Daphne Greengrass, the oldest daughter of Cyrus Greengrass who had been found an unmarked Death Eater. Her father had been convicted to life at Azkaban for his crimes against humanity. He didn't really know her, sure she had been in his potions classes for six years, but he didn't have much interaction with Slytherins except for Malfoy's insults. So he only nodded at her curtly while walking out of the bank. He couldn't remember her doing anything against him and he had the habit to not blame children for the sins of their parents. Even Draco Malfoy had been in a bad situation of either becoming a Death Eater or seeing his family killed.

That was why he insisted on using veritaserum in all trials. No crimes were held back but also any reasons that would give some lenience in regards of the action of a person. Malfoy was in a holding cell together with his parents and his trial was scheduled in a week. Harry was really busy all the time as he needed to be seen working on getting the guilty to prison and those that were forced to follow Voldemort punished in other ways. Theodore Nott was such an example. He wasn't marked but had been among those that had tormented other students last year under the regime of the Carrows. He wasn't really into the whole torture aspect, he only didn't want to be a target himself, so he did what he was told, which included practicing unforgivable curses on misbehaving students. He was sent to prison for two years in the minimal security wing and would have to do thousand unpaid hours of community service as punishment.

Daphne returned his nod and then went to a teller.

* * *

Daphne had to keep a stoic face when she saw Harry Potter. He had come a long way from the small and scruffy looking boy that had been sorted with her seven years ago. He now was fairly tall and had rugged good looks to go with his name. And to her surprise he was the one that made sure that justice was spoken at the Wizengamot, not acted on justified grief and hurt. Everybody that was suspected of being involved in the horrors of the war was questioned under veritaserum and asked for the reasons. Many of her old friends cursed his name for being responsible for them losing a lot of gold and all of their families' influence, but really, they could be happy that he didn't simply accuse all children of Death Eaters or Slytherins to be evil like Weasley was doing regularly. With his fame and influence he could see them all in prison. That he didn't was a great sign of what kind of man he had become.

She walked up to the teller and handed over the key to her family vault and asked to be taken down there. She easily was allowed as after her father's conviction she was now the de-facto head of the Greengrass family as her mother was in no state to function. Now she had a window of time to act before Astoria found a way to get her cut off from the fortune. And she knew that her little sister was planning. Thankfully she was still underage so her plans would have to wait until she turned seventeen. Which was still a year away. Daphne and Astoria had never been really close as they didn't have the same mother. Daphne's mother Regina had died giving birth to her and her father, in over his head with a baby, had remarried and two years later Astoria had been born to Stella. And while Stella pretended to equally care for both girls she clearly planned how to get Astoria most of the family fortune and the best possible spouse.

Well, Draco Malfoy had to lose a lot from the upcoming trials and the Malfoy fortune was clearly less than what it had been before though nobody had heard a whisper about the overall situation. Stella had been the one to arrange her contact with Pillomis, clearly an act to make her miserable and get her out of the way of Astoria.

Daphne waited until she had reached the vault and it was opened. Inside she found the gold that her father had horded and earned with dirty deals. Not her problem right now. She only needed to get as much as possible into her personal vault that she had opened in her second year at Hogwarts, knowing that she needed to have gold of her own that nobody could cut her off of. While she could get by with much less money than other pureblood girls, she needed some things and the most expensive part would be a place to live if, as she suspected Stella would do once she found out about the baby, she was forced to leave the Greengrass mansion. She had to do a few things soon. One was taking her NEWTs at the Ministry which would take place in two weeks. The Ministry had arranged that the OWL and NEWT exams could be taken in the first week of August or that the students returned to Hogwarts for a few months and took them in December. Those that hadn't been able to go to Hogwarts were offered to repeat the year or if they wanted to try without that to take the other dates. She would take the first date. With NEWTs in her pocket she had more chances to earn a living once the child was born.

But as she knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything once the child was revealed she needed to get everything done before that. Buying a flat would be about one or two thousand galleons if she didn't want anything grand. Next to that everything needed to be registered in her name so that nobody could take it away. Her money pouch could hold up to five thousand galleons. She had bought it for ten galleons when she had opened her vault. Normally such a pouch was too expensive and useless, but for her plans it was perfect. It didn't look any different to those that could hold a hundred galleons and nobody would ask her why she took that sum from the family vault. Thankfully the only way that her father could have noticed would have been if he counted the gold and that was simply not done. The goblins provided statements once a year at the end and with the masses of gold coming in and going out, mostly for Stella's parties, nobody noticed her taking out thousands and placing them into her personal vault that nobody knew about.

So she now filled the pouch completely and then asked to be taken to her personal vault. It was easy and she deposited the gold in her vault that now held about eleven thousand galleons. At least two more trips and she would be able to make sure that even if she didn't find a job early on or was sabotaged by Stella and Astoria she and her child wouldn't have to suffer in life. Hogwarts tuition was two hundred fifty galleons a year, meaning she needed one thousand seven hundred and fifty galleons alone for that. That didn't include proper clothes, taxes and food. But she would get this done. She and her child would have a good life no matter what happened.

* * *

Daphne had been right about Stella's and Astoria's reactions once it was unavoidable that they found out about Daphne's pregnancy. The only reason Daphne hadn't been officially disinherited was that she could rightfully declare her child the blessing of Beltane in the union of the goddess and the horned warrior. But Stella had cut her off of the family vault and told her to leave her house and to never return. Daphne was ready and simply took all her things that she had packed already for a month with her to her new flat in London. It was a three bedrooms, kitchen, bath and living room kind of flat and perfect for her needs. She had passed her NEWTs in Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes with at least Exceeds expectations and now she could work on the immediate future.

Stella didn't have the power to take away her title as heiress of house Greengrass, as much as she wanted to. Being pregnant with a Beltane child prevented that. The backlash of that action wouldn't be something Stella could survive socially. And Daphne would make sure that throwing her out because of her pregnancy would come to bite her as well later on. She had found out in the meantime that the runic circle undid all other kinds of magic so that only the pure magic of Beltane was at work. That was the reason her potion didn't work and she had the suspicion that her partner had been under glamours and that his hair had really been red when they danced around the fire but had returned to natural black once they had entered the circle. So great to find that out after it was too late.

She was now seven months along and was thinking about names for her child. So far her favourites were Caspian for a boy and Rhapsody for a girl.

* * *

Harry couldn't believe Ginny. She had given him an ultimatum. A fucking ultimatum. Either he fully committed to her, meaning he proposed, or she would look for somebody else. He wasn't following her wishes like she wanted to by refusing to go to all the parties, stating he had more important things to do like studying for taking the NEWTs, a fact that at least Hermione fully supported him in, and he also wasn't playing the famous hero and taking advantage of several profitable offers from businesses that wanted to advertise their products with his name. So he had broken up with Ginny, making Mrs Weasley angry at treating her daughter like that. He had never before been this thankful that Grimmauld Place was his home now.

He had stayed over at the Burrow a lot after the final battle and had returned to Hogwarts to get the intensive classes to be ready to take the NEWTs in December. They were only a week away now and Ginny had to give an ultimatum in that situation. He got the impression that she had become a gold-digger. She hadn't put this much importance into material things before the war had ended. Or perhaps he simply hadn't seen it so much? Ron was similar, but then Harry had always known that he was ashamed of being poor, so he using his fame to get more gold was not unexpected. Only Hermione seemed to keep a clear head. She like him was preparing to take the NEWTs next week and had of course set up study schedules for both of them. Ron hadn't taken up the offer to return to Hogwarts in favour of using his popularity as a war hero to earn money.

Both Hermione and Mrs Weasley had tried to get him to go back and get his NEWTs but he had been stubborn. His head was full of stupid ideas right now and nothing was caused by the suffering from losing Fred from the caved in wall. George was another story; Harry could fully understand that he was out of it over losing half of himself, Mr and Mrs Weasley for losing a child, they were distraught and stood beside themselves for weeks on end, always looking at places that screamed 'Fred'. But Ron was only seeing his current popularity and the offers he got which gave him gold to spend.

How he expected to still be accepted by the aurors, which was his declared goal, was a mystery to Harry as Kingsley had told them that while the standards had been lowered a bit to be able to replace the lost aurors, you still needed the NEWTs in the same classes as before to get invited to a test. Harry had spent five months, as Hogwarts had only opened in October this year due to on-going repairs after the battle, making sure that the Death Eaters were all locked away and the unwilling followers got away with lesser punishments, meaning short prison sentences for the worse cases and community service hours. He had been surprised that the concept didn't exist in the wizarding world, but Kingsley had taken it up gratefully as a fitting punishment. Next to that he had studied massively to get his NEWTs and still Ginny had the gall to make ridiculous demands. Well, he now needed to get his head cleared and concentrate on his NEWTs.

* * *

**Okay, that's it for this chapter, till next time.**


	3. Shocking Revelation

**Hi, here is the next chapter. Thanks for all your reviews, I was very happy that I already got over a hundred with just two chapters. To those that mentioned in their reviews that I need to involve more dialog in my story, I know that but it is easier to get some parts bridged without. This chapter will move the story on slower and has more personal interaction between characters in it. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Shocking Revelation**

Daphne was shopping baby clothes. While she normally got disapproving looks at first because it was well-known that she wasn't married and her face had been in the Prophet next to those of Stella and Astoria after her father's trial, as soon as she explained that her child was a Beltane child and she hadn't known that the ceremony of the goddess and the horned warrior negated any potions and other magic, the older women in the shops only smiled indulgently at her and helped her find good things for her soon to be born baby. Though one question was always asked; did the father acknowledge the child as his? She could only tell them that she hadn't been able to find out the father's name so far as the ones in charge of choosing the horned warrior had to take a replacement last minute because the planned man had decided on short notice that he couldn't take the position due to having found a girlfriend shortly before. So they could only tell he had red hair, which she said changed to black in the circle. It had been too dark to make out distinctive features and the black mask had hidden half of his face. It was annoying to the extreme to repeatedly answer the same question but she managed to keep her temper in check.

Daphne knew that once the baby was born she could ask the goblins for a blood test which would reveal the father. But it still wouldn't be as good as having him know before that point and let him have part in naming the baby. It was tradition that both parents agreed on the name. If everything was done according to pureblood tradition the father had the job of announcing the name of the child officially. Well, she was more or less resigned that the father was probably dead or in prison already and that it wouldn't matter anyway. So many had died in the war and those that were at the Beltane fires normally were the members of the old wizarding houses. Most of them had either been targets of You-know-Who or fought for his goals. She had enough gold put aside to get by until her child graduated from Hogwarts. More she couldn't ask for at the moment.

* * *

Harry sat at the Leaky Cauldron eating breakfast. He had got his NEWT results three days ago and was happy to say that he had passed everything. Now he could go on to enter auror training. He had got E's in Transfiguration, Potions and Herbology and O's in Charms and Defence. His Defence score was even the highest ever recorded by the Ministry. He was proud of his results and had been to a big party at Neville's to celebrate both the new year and the NEWT results. Neville had decided that he too would take the short intensive course till December before taking his NEWTs as he had been in hiding a good part of his last school year. He had passed his NEWTs in Herbology and surprisingly Defence with an O and Charms and Astronomy with E's. Many others had joined them. Hermione of course got nearly all O's, except for Herbology as the practical had brought her score lower. But even she couldn't mourn that. Ron had been there as well but he had been moody that most wanted to talk about NEWT grades and nobody really made a fuss about his fame.

Now Harry was enjoying a few days off before the entry tests for the aurors would start. It had been a major blow to Ron's ego that he couldn't get into the program on fame alone, he had thought that Kingsley was bluffing and would let him in secretly, but the new minister didn't make exceptions. Ron was not happy about that and especially that Harry would surely get into the program, for his fame in Ron's eyes. He conveniently ignored that Harry could show the NEWTs that were required for the job. Harry countered that Ron could have simply come back to Hogwarts with him and Hermione and taken the three months intensive course to get his NEWTs. The Ministry accepted everybody who had at least A's in the five classes they required. Ron didn't take that well and stormed off, Hermione apologising for him and following him to try and get him calmed down. Harry wondered if their relationship would hold. He could see that Hermione was close to exploding.

She might have forgiven Ron for abandoning them during the horcrux hunt but she clearly hadn't forgotten about it. And when Ron's complex about Hermione having snogged Krum in their fourth year was again mentioned when Ron tried to complain about her keeping him at a certain limit in their relationship Harry couldn't honestly care. Why would it be important if Hermione had or hadn't kissed a boy? It was years in the past and she had only been in random contact with Viktor by letters. Ron really needed to get over that if he wanted to keep Hermione by his side. Her patience really was running thin. She wouldn't take him back another time. And by now Harry would probably welcome it. Ron had hurt Hermione too often in Harry's opinion. Third year over Scabbers and the Firebolt, fourth year after the Yule Ball, sixth year with his escapades with Lavender and then on the horcrux hunt. Harry was really sick of picking up the pieces after another of Ron's tantrums.

Once he was done he left some coins to pay for his meal and stood up, only to see a pregnant young woman struggle with some fallen down bag. Gentleman that he was he bent down and picked the bag up from the ground.

"Here, your bag." He said politely.

"Thank you. You wouldn't believe how difficult moving with such a belly is." The woman replied gratefully. "And annoyingly a lot of common spells are sluggish right now. Thankfully it only started when I entered the eighth month."

Harry then recognised Daphne Greengrass. He hadn't known that she was pregnant.

"I can imagine that it is difficult especially if you aren't used to it. Do you need any help?" He offered.

"I need to buy some things for the nursery that I am setting up, but with some shrinking and featherweight charms that the shop assistants can always put on the things I buy it shouldn't be a problem, thanks for offering though." She replied smiling.

She had a pretty smile he noticed.

"Can't your husband help you? You shouldn't do strenuous things with how far along you seem to be." Harry asked.

"I'm not married, Potter." She said annoyed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought." Harry stuttered.

"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have snapped at you, damned hormones." She sighed. "My child was conceived on Beltane and sadly I don't know who the father is yet. I took the place of the goddess in the Beltane ceremony and the ones in charge for deciding on the horned warrior didn't know his name. He was a last minute replacement. So I can only find out the father's name once the baby is born as a blood test can only be done then. Seemingly he had disguised himself as I know that his hair-colour changed in the ritual circle. All magic is undone in there, only the magic of the union between the goddess and the horned warrior works to bless the earth for the next year. Sadly that includes contraceptive potions. Which nobody told me before that." Daphne explained for probably the hundredth time.

Harry had paled hearing that. Any colour of his face had vanished and a cold feeling spread from him chest. This sounded suspiciously like how he had become the horned warrior. But it could be a coincidence.

"Which Beltane ceremony were you at?" He asked therefore.

"Cornwall. What does it mean to you?" She asked.

"I-Is there a way to determine who the father is before the baby is born if you have a probable candidate?" Harry asked; he needed to know if he was the father.

"Uh, yes, I think the healer said something about that. Do you know who it could be?" She asked hopefully.

"It might be me." Harry admitted in a low voice shocking Daphne who needed to sit down which Harry helped her with before he continued. "I needed a break in the hunt for the things that kept Voldemort alive and as it was Beltane I thought I could simply apparate to one of the fires and enjoy the dancing. But then two men who had just found out that the man who had been planned to be the horned warrior for their ceremony had decided to go to the fire with his new girlfriend and I was roped into playing the part. As it would be a good disguise and I really saw no reason to not help out I accepted. I returned to Bill and Fleur Weasley's place where Ron, Hermione and I were staying at that time without ever telling anybody that I had been to a Beltane fire. Hermione wouldn't have let me have a moment of peace and Ron would have blown up over me having sex without being married."

Daphne had a hard time processing the possibility. Could her child really be Harry Potter's child? It sounded like it fit. She needed to know.

"Oh my god." She whispered. "Did you charm your hair red before you went?"

He nodded.

"It could be, I thought the horned warrior had red hair when we danced around the fire, but in the circle it changed to black. I wasn't sure if I had imagined that but I didn't think so." She told him.

"We need to know for sure." Harry said determined. "Who can do the test?"

"St. Mungo's. But what will you do if you are the father? We have never even spoken more than a handful of words at Hogwarts." Daphne asked worried.

"I will see when we know for sure. Let's go to St. Mungo's and find out. Just know that I will never abandon my child if it is mine. We will work something out if I am the father." Harry promised.

* * *

Harry and Daphne were led to Daphne's healer after Daphne asked for an appointment. Things had calmed down for St. Mungo's again after the war and they only had to wait for twenty minutes. The woman smiled warmly at Daphne.

"Daphne, my dear, good to see you. What can I do for you? Are there any problems with the pregnancy?" She asked.

"No, Mrs Cobalt. I wanted to ask if you could perform the charm you told me about determining if a wizard that is tested is the father of my child while it is still in my womb." Daphne asked.

Now Mrs Cobalt looked at Harry.

"You are the father?" She asked surprised recognising Harry of course.

"Probably, we aren't completely sure yet. I was the horned warrior in a ceremony in Cornwall on Beltane and the circumstances are similar to what Daphne described. So we came to be sure if I am or am not the father." Harry said.

Mrs Cobalt nodded. She could see how nervous Harry was about this. He definitely hadn't expected to be confronted with a situation like this. She could feel sympathy for him and at least he wasn't trying to shy away from his possible responsibility.

"Take Daphne's hand please, Mr Potter, then I can perform the charm." She instructed Harry and he complied. "_Paternitas_."

A blue spell hit both Harry and Daphne and after a moment Harry glowed bright green.

"The test is positive; you are the father, Mr Potter." Mrs Cobalt announced.

Harry sat down heavily. How did one take the announcement that you would become a father in one month? Pregnancies took nine months and the child had been conceived on Beltane, meaning the end of January would probably be the time it would be born. How would he explain this to his friends? What should he do now? He had no idea about a lot of traditions of the wizarding world. He only knew a little about a few things he had read up like the most important magical dates and celebrations.

"Harry?" Daphne asked hesitantly.

"I just need some time to get this sorted out in my head." Harry mumbled and the two women left him to his thoughts. "I need to talk to a few persons what I should do. I stand to my word that I won't abandon my child, Daphne, but I really need some advice before I decide on what I will do in detail. Can you give me your floo address? I will contact you once I am able to think clearly again."

Daphne nodded. It made sense that Harry was horribly confused. Hell she was confused and she had known about the baby for months.

"The floo address is Diamond's Lane," Daphne told him, "do you know somebody who is knowledgeable in wizarding traditions?"

"Yes, Andromeda Tonks, the grandmother of my godson. She was born a Black and will know what my options are. I will call you soon, Daphne. If your need anything for the baby, my floo address is Grimmauld Place Number 12." Harry informed her.

Daphne nodded, she was glad that at least the father of her child wasn't a total arsehole. Harry, while she didn't really know him well, was honourable enough to accept his responsibility.

* * *

Harry arrived at Andromeda's house shortly after lunch. He saw that Teddy was being fussy about going to bed and Andromeda was looking stressed.

"Let me help you, Andi." Harry said and took over getting Teddy to calm down enough to go to sleep.

"Hello, Harry, good to see you. It would be great if I could take a short break. He is teething and that causes him to sleep very irregularly at the moment." Andromeda informed him. "Numbing charms can only do so much."

Harry nodded and took the baby into his arms. He was still astonished about the little wonder that was Remus and Dora's son. The little metamorphmagus still regularly circled through several hair-colours a day and by now he tried to have them match the person that was holding him. Harry carried Teddy around and told him stories until the eyes of the baby boy finally closed and he started to sleep in his godfather's arms.

"You are really good with him, Harry," Andromeda praised him. "You will be a great father one day."

"Uhm, that might be sooner than I thought it would be and I'm here to get some advice, Andi." Harry admitted.

Andromeda looked surprised then evened her expression.

"Why don't you put Teddy into his bed and we can talk about that, okay?" She asked and Harry nodded relieved.

He carried Teddy into the neighbour room and put his favourite plushy, a wolf, into his arms. The poor wolf showed signs of Teddy biting on it regularly with his small new teeth. Especially on the ears. Harry placed a baby alarm charm over the sleeping boy and left the room. Once he sat on the couch Andromeda looked at him expectantly.

"Okay, what happened? You aren't the type of boy that simply sleeps around carelessly." She stated bluntly.

"It happened on Beltane," Harry started and told Andromeda the whole story.

She listened patiently and took in all of the information Harry could give her.

"Alright, that isn't that bad of a situation. It would have been worse if you had simply been careless and now had a bastard child on the way. That would have damaged your reputation a lot if you didn't marry the mother before the child was born. Beltane children are seen as blessings in the wizarding world and are held to other standards, especially those conceived between those taking the places of the goddess and the horned warrior. Normally a child born out of wedlock would be seen as a bastard and be seen like a muggleborn. No heritage to show off even if the parents were both purebloods and no right to an inheritance of the father if he doesn't acknowledge the child. If a Beltane child isn't acknowledged by the father the child is seen as a member of the family of the mother with all rights of legally being born into that family. If it is acknowledged there are several possibilities. You can of course marry Daphne and make everything legal, but that is probably right now not an option as you said you don't know her beyond the fact that you were in the same year at school in different houses.

"You could set up times that you get to spend with the child and live apart. You could also try to get to know Daphne and see if over time a relationship could work. I know that right now you are still hurt about Ginny's behaviour, so it might work best if you simply started to see if you could be friends. If more develops, perfect, if not, a Beltane child of two friends or at least friendly acquaintances, will still be better off than one where the father doesn't want anything to do with it. The last option is after all that you simply set up a trust fund for the child and decide that you don't want to be involved in your child's life. You would still be seen as doing your duty to your child." Andromeda listed options.

"The last one is a definite no. I grew up unloved by my aunt and uncle, but at least I could hold onto the belief that my parents had loved me. I won't let my child doubt that I love it. I want to get to know my child. I think I will work something out with Daphne along the lines of getting to know each other but for now at best being friendly acquaintances. I will see if more can develop from there. I honestly don't know if I am ready for a new relationship. What do you think I should tell my friends? I can imagine how Ron and Hermione will react." Harry asked.

"Well, I guess Hermione will take it better. She might give you a piece of her mind, but she will support you like she has always done. Ron will probably take it worse. From what I heard he didn't take you breaking up with his sister and now applying for the auror program well." She said.

"That's an understatement, Andi. He can't accept that he won't be able to get into the auror program just on his new fame. Sometimes I'm so sick of his behaviour. If he really wanted to become an auror all he would have had to do was going back to Hogwarts for three months with Hermione and me. He only needed A's in all his classes. We told him before we went back that Kingsley wasn't bluffing, but he didn't want to listen. Nothing more than an A and with a little bit of dedicated studying that was more than possible. I had to buckle down too to catch up in Potions and Herbology to get my grades but I did it. I spent all the evenings with Hermione and Neville to get the theory parts down in those two classes but in the end I managed. And then on top of everything just when I was close to the exams Ginny pulls that stunt with putting me on the spot about making a commitment to her or she would look for somebody else. What kind of behaviour is that? If she really loved me she would have supported me in that phase, giving me the time I needed to prepare for my tests and not complain that I had no time for her with all my studies. I would have made it up to her once I was finished." Harry let his feelings out, showing the hurt about this. "But all she wanted me to do was going to parties to show me off. As if I was some kind of prize that she had won. I guess she never saw me as just Harry."

Andromeda really felt for the young man. He had been put through so much and still people didn't treat him like he wanted to. He didn't want to be a celebrity, just a normal young adult, finding his way in life now that he was free of the dark shadow that had hung over him all his life. She had first had her doubts about Remus and Nymphadora's decision to name Harry of all people Teddy's godfather, but he had been great. He had come to her house to see his godson the week after the battle and had been over regularly ever since. He normally came three times a week before he returned to Hogwarts. Then he used the Hogsmeade weekends to apparate over to see him. By now she completely shared her daughter's and son-in-law's conviction that there was no-one better as Teddy's godfather than Harry Potter.

She really hoped that the public wouldn't make too big a fuss over this. She would have to teach Harry how to face the topic frontally with the press and not let himself be pushed on the defence.

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**Okay, till next week.**


	4. Telling Hermione

**And the next chapter is up. Enjoy and thanks for all the great reviews.**

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**Telling Hermione**

Harry had decided that the first one to find out would have to be Hermione. She had been with him through everything and it wouldn't be right if she found out from somebody else that they had known before her. So Harry sent her a letter inviting her to dinner at Grimmauld Place. She arrived ten minutes early as was her habit. Harry knew that she had used the time between the battle and the re-opening of Hogwarts to go to Australia and search for her parents. Ron had refused to go, stating he was needed in England. It was one reason for the strain on their relationship right now.

"Hello, Hermione, good to see you." Harry greeted her smiling and got hugged in return.

"Hi, Harry, it's good to see you too. I'm so excited, Kingsley offered me a position in his office." Hermione gushed happily. "I will be able to work on really making a difference to our world and try to convince people for more rights for house elves, better treatment of other sentient races and so much more. And I can show the remaining purebloods that a muggleborn like me can be as successful as them."

Harry could see that the last part gave her a vindictive pleasure. Probably no wonder with how she had suffered when Bellatrix had tortured her. The scars on her arm were still there.

"Congratulations. I'm really happy for you. Come on, I have dinner nearly ready." Harry said smiling.

"You can cook?" She asked surprised.

"Yes, I can. I did cook in the tent, didn't I?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow. "What I can't do are magical household spells like multiplying food or preparing it for cooking."

"Yes, sorry, it's just I am so used to seeing Ron refuse to do anything in the kitchen and most of the household that I forgot that. I know that you tried your best and were capable of cooking easy meals." She admitted sheepishly sounding more than a little annoyed with her boyfriend.

"It's okay. I need proper equipment and a stove to really cook well. But I learned from when I was young." He omitted the fact that he had been forced to do so except for two weeks at Mrs Figg's where it had been fun to learn it.

"That sounds nice. What are we having tonight?" She asked curiously.

"A roast with boiled potatoes, gravy and green beans." Harry said. "And for desert I made chocolate mousse."

"Really? I love chocolate mousse." She gushed.

"I know, that's why I made it," he chuckled. "Just think, the daughter of two dentists likes chocolate mousse." He teased her.

"Oh you." She scolded him playfully and lightly hit his shoulder.

They went into the kitchen where Harry had laid out plates, glasses and silverware for two, next to some freshly baked bread with herbal butter next to it.

"Wow, you really made this special. What's the occasion?" Hermione asked impressed.

"Can't I simply invite my best friend over and want to show off a little?" Harry asked grinning.

"If you were anybody else, Harry, I would believe that but you normally don't want to show off, so you must have a reason for which you think this is appropriate, especially as you cooked yourself. Normally you would have let Kreacher prepare the food." Hermione pointed out.

"Can't get anything past you. Okay, I have a reason so do this, but why don't we first eat before I tell you?" He asked.

"Sure." She replied and took a seat.

Harry asked her what she wanted to drink and listed the options they had, he had found the Black stash of wine in the basement when he and Kreacher had remodelled the house so he could offer from that as well, and poured the chosen wine for them both before taking his seat. Hermione had to massively praise Harry's skill in the kitchen. The bread was delicious as was the herbal butter and the roast was fantastic. And she was honestly considering seducing Harry when she tasted the chocolate mousse.

"Don't let Witch Weekly find out that you can cook. Your status of the most desirable bachelor will only be strengthened. There are incredibly few wizards that can cook or even would try to cook for a witch. The food was fantastic, Harry." Hermione gushed after dessert.

"I'm glad you liked it, Hermione." Harry said smiling shyly. He still wasn't used to many compliments.

He put the dirty dishes into the sink. He and Kreacher had a deal. While Kreacher would let him cook for this evening for his sister figure, he insisted on doing the dishes and cleaning up after the two were done with eating.

"Come on, let's go to the sitting room." Harry said and Hermione nodded.

"I still can't believe what you and Kreacher have made out of this old house. It's so much nicer than it was when the Order was still using it as headquarters." She mentioned.

"It took a lot of work but I'm very happy with how it has turned out. Now I can imagine living here and one day raising my children here. With how it looked before and how much it reminded me of how miserable Sirius has been here that wouldn't have been possible." Harry admitted.

They sat down in the comfortable blue armchairs next to the merrily burning fire in the fireplace.

"So what did you want to talk about Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I have found out something for which I need you to first completely listen to my story. You are my best friend and it simply wouldn't have been right if you weren't the first of my friends to be told." Harry started, looking uncomfortable. Then he started telling Hermione.

"You remember when we were at Shell Cottage the day before we went to Gringotts to get Hufflepuff's cup from Bellatrix Lestrange's vault?" He asked and she nodded, wondering where this would lead. "I was mentally really drained at that point. I needed a way to let my guard down even if it was only for a few hours. Bill and Fleur were looking at each other suggestively, you and Ron were spending most of your time together as you were using all the time you could to recover and Luna was also resting early in the evenings. There was nobody I could have spent the time with and as it was the thirtieth of April I knew that there was a possibility to go somewhere and forget my troubles for a short while."

"The thirtieth, I know that was an important date," Hermione pondered.

"It's Beltane." Harry added, shocking her and he quickly held his hands up seeing her face grow stormy, she clearly suspected that he had done something stupid. "Just let me finish. I decided that with all the people at the fires, dancing and being carefree I wouldn't stand out if I put on some glamours. So I apparated to one of the sites in Cornwall that I had read about in the Daily Prophet which Bill and Fleur had in the kitchen. My plan was simply to mingle with the crowd dancing around the fires, but because I coincidentally had apparated to the area where the two men that were in charge of preparing the one chosen to play the horned warrior were discussing what to do as the originally planned man had ditched them suddenly I was roped into taking over the role." Harry told her.

"So let me get this straight, you left us without a note where you were, risking being found out and arrested after we had just got away from Malfoy Manor a few weeks before just because you needed to relax?" She asked incredulously.

"I had the weight of the whole world on my shoulders, Hermione; when had I been allowed to just be me, when had I been able to simply do something for me? I have been a virtual prisoner since I was a child. Oh, of course Dumbledore called it keeping me safe because the Death Eaters would have killed me if they had found out where I lived, but I didn't have a real life before Voldemort was dead. My complaints about how I wanted to get away from there were ignored. All signs that something was really wrong were hushed up by either the Ministry or Dumbledore. Each year I was dragged down deeper into depression. And yes I know that I have problems and I am talking about it. I had long talks with Andy about this and it is helping in little steps.

"I have never been on vacation like you were with your parents; the closest thing I ever experienced was staying over at the Burrow in summer before second year and for the Quidditch World Cup before fourth year. You and Ron got to visit other places with your parents; I never got to do that. And at Hogwarts I was always the centre of attention if I wanted it or not. One day I was the hero, one day the villain, just depending on how the mood of the other students was and how mean the gossipers were. And the teachers did nothing about it." Harry ranted, letting go of a lot of pent up frustration. "Neither in second year, nor in fourth year after my name came out of the goblet and don't get me started on the fiasco that was fifth year."

Hermione couldn't say anything against that because it was true.

"And while you and Ron could go home at the end of the year, recover from the insane adventures were went through with people that loved you supporting you, I was put back into my personal hell. Nobody was there for me when I fought with the feelings of having been unable to save Cedric, of having seen Voldemort return, nobody was there when I grieved for Sirius. Only the Dursleys and they would never have said a nice word to me. Andy says its criminal how I was treated by the majority of the adults in my life so please forgive me when I sometimes reach my breaking point and need to get away even if it is only for a few hours. I would go insane if I didn't." Harry ranted.

"Okay, while I still don't like that you were so reckless; I can see where you were coming from. It's in the past anyway and I can't change it. I just wish you had felt that you could tell Ron or me where you were going." She said trying to placate him..

"I knew how Ron would react and you would have nagged me about the security aspect until I caved in. I couldn't tell you. Well, the thing is, had I not gone, I wouldn't be alive today." Harry said.

"WHAT?" Hermione shouted. "Explain that right now."

"You remember the memories that Snape gave me during his last breaths?" Harry asked and she nodded. How could she ever forget that? Harry's descriptions had been really hard to take in.

"I was the last horcrux, the one that Voldemort never planned to make." Harry informed her.

"Oh my god, Harry." She held her hand in front of her mouth in horror.

"Dumbledore knew and he thought that there was no other way to get rid of it than me dying by Voldemort's hand. It was all in Snape's memories. He and Dumbledore had planned the old man's death between them as I told you, but also my death to save the world. At first I was broken, but then I remembered one thing that had happened in the ceremony. When I slept with the woman that played the goddess at the height of the act I heard a horrible screeching sound like the one from destroying a horcrux centred at my scar. Hermione, that I took place in that ceremony saved my life." Harry told her.

Hermione couldn't help herself and jumped into his arms and hugged him for it was worth. To think that her best friend had only survived because he had gone to that celebration. And that nobody had thought to tell him so that they could have researched other options. Her respect for Dumbledore had just taken another major hit.

"How could they do that to you? You deserved to know. We could have done research on how to get the horcrux out without you having to die a lot earlier." She cried into his shoulder.

"I know and that is one thing I can't forgive Dumbledore. While I can understand that he was looking out for the greater picture, getting rid of Voldemort, I feel like he simply used me as a weapon. I have come up with a few theories what has caused the destruction of the horcrux and if I am right it could have been much weaker than it was if Dumbledore hadn't been so fixated on his grand plan to destroy Voldemort. The resurrection stone in the snitch was given to me when I said anything related to the word death." Harry informed her. "I didn't use it, even if I would like to give the old man a piece of my mind. The dead shouldn't be dragged into this world, that much I have understood from the tale of the three brothers. My ancestors made the mistake of openly announcing that they had those items. To be precise I am the last of the line of Ignotus Peverell, the youngest brother. I found a family tree in the Potter family vault at Gringotts after I got access once I settled the problems that we have caused by stealing the cup and escaping on the dragon." Harry stated.

"Oh Harry." Hermione said crying, not wanting to let her pseudo brother go.

Both had decided that they were better off as brother and sister. With Ron's and Ginny's behaviour a lot of their friends had asked if they considered simply becoming a couple but they didn't feel like that for the other. They loved each other like siblings.

It took a while for Hermione to calm down.

"So, why did you bring the story up now? Normally you wouldn't have told anybody, not wanting us to be hurt and realise how close we were to lose so much." She asked.

"The Beltane night had another result. I'm going to become a father in at most a month." Harry confessed.

Hermione gasped.

"I talked about what I should do with Andromeda because I honestly was totally confused and unsure what I had to do. The only thing I knew when I found out was that I wanted to be part of my child's life." Harry said.

"A Beltane child?" Hermione asked awed.

"Yes, Andy explained to me how Beltane children were seen differently than other children born out of wedlock. The child won't suffer contrary to other children that are declared bastards. It will belong to both my and the mother's families and I can decide how I want to act as I have already decided to acknowledge the child as mine. It was a coincidence that I even found out before the child was born as of course nobody knew my identity at the Beltane ceremony." Harry said.

Then he informed Hermione about the options that Andromeda had pointed out and which one he wanted to take.

"I still can't believe it. You are going to be a father in just a month. Only you, Harry, but I can't really blame you or the mother for this happening when you didn't know that the magic of Beltane let contraceptive potions fail. By the way, who is the mother, you didn't tell me that so far." Hermione asked.

"Daphne Greengrass." Harry answered.

"Oh my god, Slytherin's Ice Princess? That will go over well with the Weasleys." She sighed.

"I know. I have no idea how to tell Ron that I'm going to have a child with a Slytherin, how to tell Mrs Weasley about having a child out of wedlock and Ginny will make a horrible scene, even if we broke up over her putting too much pressure on me with her demands that I wouldn't bow to. I guess George and Bill will be the easiest ones to accept it." Harry whined. "I don't think that Luna or Neville will have a problem with it. Neville will probably be shocked but happy for me and Luna will say something unique to her and tell me that the wrackspurts were responsible for me doing so." He chuckled.

"That would be like her." Hermione agreed. "Most of the others would probably accept it as well, even if some will make shrewd comments about only you being capable to have a child with a Slytherin without even knowing who she was. How did you find out?"

Harry described the meeting in the Leaky Cauldron to her. She only nodded, only a little surprised. After all this was Harry, strange things always happened to him. At least this was comparably normal for him. She promised him to fully support him and be his backup when he told the Weasleys. Harry was very grateful for her support.

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**So, the first of Harry's friends knows now. The others will follow. Till next time.**


	5. Discussion with Daphne

**Hi, here is the next chapter, happy reading.**

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**Discussions with Daphne**

The next morning Harry floo-called Daphne and then went over when she gave him permission. He had to admit after looking around her flat that she had good taste in interior decoration. Daphne invited him to have some tea and after a while she started talking.

"So what are we going to do?" She asked directly really wanting to know what he had decided.

He had a lot of options how to act. She didn't dare hope that he actually would marry her right of the bat. From the little she knew about him she was sure that while he was honourable he was finally looking after his own interests more. He had let people walk over him enough at school. If she had to point out the time that changed had been somewhere around the end of fifth year or beginning of sixth year. He was giving back as much as he got then. She was just glad that he had already promised to not shun the baby and be part of its life. That was more than most purebloods would have done.

After all, the Greengrass family had lost a lot of social and political standing with her father being convicted to Azkaban for life. The marriage contract between Draco Malfoy and Astoria was also not a point in favour of the Greengrasses. Being associated with the dark was not politically acceptable anymore. Most men would have decided to have as little contact as possible with her and the baby, just doing what was expected of the father of a Beltane child. That was acknowledging the child, after all there was prestige involved being able to say that you had fathered a Beltane child, and setting up a trust fund to make sure the child didn't suffer financially. That was all most people would expect. That the mother and the child lived in luxury and profited from the father's social and political power if he had those was not among the expected things.

"I have talked to Andromeda and she pointed out the options that I have. Right now I like the one best where we see if we can be friends and wait where it leads us. I will fully acknowledge the child as mine and I want to be part of his or her life. I'm not ready to take any major steps like marrying you as I don't know you more than that you were in my year at Hogwarts and your reputation as Slytherin's Ice Princess." That was about what she had expected. "You probably don't know much about me either as the most I ever talked to any Slytherins was my arguments with Malfoy. While I know that some will expect me to still marry you, I think that if we find out that we can hardly stand each other rushing a marriage would be the worst thing to do." Harry said. "It wouldn't be fair for any of us."

She pondered his words. There was wisdom in them. She had never been able to consider that a marriage should be based on love or at least friendship. Her mother had been married to her father shortly after they had both graduated from school. The contract had been negotiated by their parents when her mother had been about thirteen. Her contract that thankfully was worth nothing more than the parchment it was written upon thanks to her betrothed dying before it could be fulfilled, had also been signed when she was around that age. Her wishes had never been important. But she had been really hurt that her father wouldn't at least look for a man closer to her in age. And there were more than enough influential families that had sons that age. To think that Harry wanted to have a good relationship with her and would hate a marriage that was nothing more than an empty shell was intriguing.

"I think that is a good solution for now. My child and I won't suffer if we do it like that and I would be happy to get to know you better. If you are willing to take over part of the raising I could manage to take on at least a part-time job once the child is a bit older to support us. While I have made sure that we are safe for a while, I know how fast money will be used up once the child is older." Daphne told him.

"What do you mean by that? Doesn't your family support you?" Harry asked. "I mean, none of those that weren't involved in Voldemort's actions are being persecuted. I know that your father went to Azkaban, but what about your mother and I think you have a little sister?"

Daphne laughed hollowly.

"My mother died giving birth to me and my step-mother threw me out of the house as soon as she found out that I was pregnant. She was mad that I had dared to 'cheat on my betrothed'. As if that arsehole had been faithful while he waited for me to become old enough to marry him. The only reason I still have my name and title of Greengrass heiress is that she can't disinherit me over a Beltane child that was conceived in one of the most sacred ceremonies of our world." Daphne told him bitterly.

"But she could cut me off of the family fortune and throw me out of the mansion. Contrary to a male heir I can't demand my inheritance. Stella, my step-mother, has tried to neutralise me for years. She wants that Astoria inherits the Greengrass fortune and that one of the younger sons that she hopefully will have gets the title. While she won't be successful if I have a son before Astoria does that can inherit the title to keep that from me, she has full control over the family vault. I knew as soon as I found out about my pregnancy that I needed to get as much gold into my personal vault as I could without her noticing. It was easier as she was distraught about my father being sentenced to Azkaban for life." Daphne informed him. "Not because she loved him so much, no it was because he was the one providing her with her life-style. I had set up my personal vault in my second year at Hogwarts and had set aside a few hundred galleons every chance I could get. I'm not like most of the other dutiful pureblood daughters that are happy with simply following any wish of their husbands and depend on them for gold. I wanted personal independence if I was forced into a loveless marriage."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. He hadn't known that things were that bad for many pureblood girls. But then again he had never had any close friends in the circles that Daphne had grown up in.

"I didn't know that things like marriage contracts still existed in this world. In the muggle world they were abolished at least a hundred years ago." Harry informed her. "Did your betrothed also push you away?"

"No, thankfully he was killed in the battle of Hogwarts. He was one of the Death Eaters and was more than double my age. I hated being trapped in that contract, but as it was set up while I was still underage I had no way out." She said coldly.

Harry was shocked. Who wanted to sell their daughter to a man that much older than her? Because it was nothing else in his eyes. He really needed to change things now that he had the influence. It was simply barbaric to do things like that. And here Remus had thought he was too old for Tonks. At least they had only been about ten years apart. He decided a change of topic was needed.

"What profession would you like to pursue?" Harry asked therefore.

"My original goal was becoming a healer. I have all the qualifications for it as well as I made sure to take my NEWTs before anybody could see my pregnancy. Three months into it you don't see much yet. I have six NEWTs to my name and that would normally open me the entry into healer school easily. The problem is that Stella will put stones into my way where she can and I would have to schedule my classes around taking care of my baby if I managed to get in." Daphne explained.

"I don't see why you shouldn't pursue your goal. While you will probably have to wait until the baby can be away from you for some hours without a problem it is manageable. And don't worry about your step-mother trying to sabotage your life, my influence goes way farther than hers ever could. If I ask the ones in charge of the healer school to let you take the test and judge you fairly on your skill you will at least be invited to the tests and if you are good enough you will be accepted." Harry promised.

"You would simply do that?" Daphne asked surprised that it could be this easy.

She knew of course that Harry had that influence. He could ask for the Minister position and they would give it to him happily. But that he would use that influence for her without a second thought was what she couldn't understand. What was in for him? Or should she perhaps start thinking differently? After all, Harry wasn't a Slytherin and hadn't grown up with the mentality that he should get something out of his actions.

"Of course I would. I hate that some people think they can bully others just out of some perceived slight or the need to make themselves look stronger. The whole ideology of ignoring anything but your own advantage led to the rise of Voldemort. He wasn't a pureblood, he was a halfblood with a muggle father, but he pretended to be a pureblood and used the superiority complex of a majority of the purebloods in this country to further his ambition of ruling supreme over this country with a reign of terror. He only wanted power, he told me himself in my first year when I faced him for the first time that I can remember that nothing counted but power. There was only power and those that were too weak to use it." Harry stated.

That part was new to Daphne.

"Really, wow, that would be a slap in the face of those that followed him mindlessly." Daphne realised the dimension if this was known.

"Soon everybody will know. I have realised in all the trials that I attended to make sure that this time we didn't let the guilty get away with a warning or imprisoned true victims of Voldemort that a lot of the Death Eater movement was based on wrong information and the illusion of having power. I am writing a book about the true man that was Voldemort, Tom Marvolo Riddle." Harry said. "I won't let something like that happen again as long as I live and if pointing out flaws in our system is the way to do it I will. Dumbledore in all his wisdom gave too many chances to people who didn't deserve them and kept too many secrets. He had the influence to make sure that all Death Eaters that were caught went to prison, he was the leader of the light, but he didn't act. He was too set in not wanting real power because of something that had happened in his youth. But still, he had it and could have prevented a lot of people dying if he had just acted earlier."

Daphne nodded. This sounded like a reasonable opinion. All the power in the world was useless if it wasn't used for the right thing.

"Say Harry, I was thinking about names for the baby and I would like your opinion." Daphne started a new topic.

Harry nodded and looked expectantly at her to hear her suggestions.

"So far my favourites are Caspian for a boy and Rhapsody for a girl. I haven't really thought about middle names though." She said.

"Those are nice names and the baby wouldn't have reason to complain about them when it's older either." Harry pondered.

"Who would complain about their name?" Daphne asked.

"Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin. She hated her first name so much that she told everybody to just call her Tonks. I think Remus was allowed to call her Dora as was her father Ted." Harry answered. "She never forgave her mother Andromeda for giving her such an embarrassing name."

"Okay, no stupid names for our baby. That's a very good argument." Daphne agreed fully.

Harry simply chuckled.

"Hm, what about Ignotus for a boy's middle name and Isabelle for a girl?" Harry suggested.

"Caspian Ignotus, Rhapsody Isabelle, yes they sound good in combination, how did you think of them?" She asked smiling.

"Ignotus Peverell was one of my ancestors and I have done some research into my family's history. Isabelle was my grandmother's name on Mum's side." Harry told her.

"I like them. What should the baby's surname be? You know that whatever we decide will cause a massive media hiccup because you are the father." Daphne said pointing out an important issue.

"I know. And if we try to hide this it will only come to bite us. We would be better off if we allowed a neutral reporter of a newspaper, perhaps not the Prophet as I am not partial to them, to get a short interview once the baby is born." Harry said. "Otherwise they will simply make something up which if Rita does the story first will be a scandalous affair painting you like a whore and me like a bastard only out for a quick shag."

Daphne shuddered at the idea. There was so much that could be written that painted them in the worst light. And Rita Skeeter wouldn't care if she destroyed another life. She would only care for the public eating her lies up.

"Yeah, she would do that, especially if Stella got to her first." Daphne agreed with his estimation. "We could give the interview to your friend Luna Lovegood. Her father gained a good reputation in the war when he printed supportive articles for you. Not one edition denunciating you." She suggested.

Harry nodded. While he had seen the one edition that called him Undesirable Number One it was because Luna had been kidnapped and Xeno was blackmailed with her life. He could forgive the man for that, even if his attempt to sell Harry out could have ended really badly. He was a father desperately trying to save his only daughter. As long as Luna took the interview this would be a good idea.

"Regarding the surname, I am open for anything. If you want the baby to have both of our surnames I am all for it." Harry said.

"That would be the best for now. It leaves all options open. In case we find that we just work out as friends at best and that the only thing connecting us is the baby I could simply stay the Greengrass heiress and in case that it is a boy he would have first claim to the Greengrass title over any children my sister might have. In case of a girl she would have full claim to a good dowry that even Stella can't refuse to hand over. It's pureblood law. And if we work out well, then we don't have to think about signing lots of documents to get the baby recognised as one of your heirs." She listed the advantages.

"You really like to think of everything, don't you?" Harry asked smiling.

"Of course, only Gryffindors would rush in without a plan. That's why you had so many problems at school. You didn't think about how to secure your back before you acted and lacked finesse and quick thinking in some situations. For example, in second year, had you said something along the lines: 'So what, I can speak parseltongue, can you say if you aren't descended from one of the founders a thousand years back? And do you really believe that I of all people would attack muggleborns? My best friend is muggleborn as was my mother and she gave her life to protect me from You-Know-Who. Get real.' That would have shut three quarters of the doubters up." Daphne gave an example. "Not to mention how funny it would have been to see Malfoy fuming that you laid a weak claim to being heir to our house. Nothing could be proven, nothing denied, a perfect plot."

Harry looked baffled. In hindsight that would really have helped a lot. After all, Earnie admitted being wrong after Hermione had been attacked. The problem was just that Harry hadn't even been aware that talking to snakes was a problem until Ron and Hermione pointed it out to him. He really lacked important information on the wizarding world.

"And what would you have done in case of the Goblet of Fire?" Harry asked interested.

"That one was even easier. You should have pointed out that you were chosen as the fourth **Tri**-Wizard champion. Then swear an oath on not having entered your name yourself and declaring Diggory the true Hogwarts champion. It wouldn't have convinced everybody, it never does, but Malfoy's plot with the badges would have fallen through. Nobody with a bit of intelligence would have worn them. Instead of that you tried to not react to the accusations and were thought guilty. Sometimes making a statement in a calm manner helps more than keeping everything to yourself. You have seen the reactions to the article in the Quibbler in fifth year. That one was a masterstroke. You told your side of the story. People could decide themselves if they wanted to believe it or not. And Umbridge's reaction added to your credibility." She explained.

"I wish I have thought of that back then. But I honestly knew too little about how the wizarding world works. I still have lots of holes in my knowledge. Academically I am good, but all those small things that those that have grown up in this world consider normal I simply don't know." Harry admitted.

"Well, we can work on getting you caught up on the most important points. After all, it wouldn't look good on you when you take up your seat in the Wizengamot if you didn't know how to behave." She said.

Harry looked at her startled.

"I have a seat on the Wizengamot? Damn, why does nobody tell me things like that?" He grumbled.

"You mean you never were told about the importance of your family in our world?" Daphne asked shocked.

"No, only that my parents were headboy and –girl in the days at Hogwarts, that my dad was a great Quidditch player, that I have my father's looks with my mum's eyes and a few more stories about their time at Hogwarts. I guess my godfather could have told me, but we had so little time together and other things were always more important at the time that it never came up. I wanted to know more stories about my parents that I never thought to ask about the rest of my family." Harry admitted. "And with Sirius being a convicted murderer, innocent yes, but Fudge refused to even give him the benefit of the doubt after we found out the truth, he wasn't really in a position to spend a lot of time with me."

"Your godfather was Sirius Black? Wow. Does that mean you inherited the Black fortune as well?" She asked.

"Yes, I live in his old house that I have completely renovated and remodelled. I hated how dark it was before and it reminded me how Sirius hated being trapped there because everybody was hunting him." Harry answered.

"You will have to tell me the whole story one day. Now, what do you think about lunch?" She asked looking at the clock at the wall.

"Sounds good. Do you want me to cook something? You should rest as much as you can." Harry offered.

"You can cook?" She asked surprised.

"Yes, I can. Hermione even declared me a good cook when I invited her over to tell her of the baby." He informed her.

"Do you like her?" Daphne asked knowing that if he did she had no chance to win him.

"She is like my sister. I know that a lot of people thought we would end up together, but we love each other like siblings. I think with her nagging I would go crazy one day if we were a couple, but as my sister she is basically duty-bound to keep me in line and that has saved my life more than once." Harry admitted sheepishly.

Daphne inwardly gave a relieved sigh. When she had found out that Harry Potter was the father of her child she had first been shocked, but then she had seen possibilities. From what she had heard through the grapevine of students she knew in other houses, which were taking the chance at the December NEWTs to get the three additional months of practice before attempting them, after all, last year had seen a massive drop in teaching quality and an increase in stress levels at Hogwarts, Harry and his former girlfriend Ginny Weasley were at odds because she had unreasonable demands of him. For Daphne it was logical that Harry wanted to concentrate on his studies to get his NEWTs in December, because without them he wouldn't be able to get the job he wanted, and if she had been in Weasley's stead she would have made sure to become indispensable to Harry.

She would have supported him, told him that she was okay with him concentrating on the NEWTs and that they would make up for lost time once he was done. She would have tried to make him feel indebted to her while helping him relax sometimes without being too pushy. Then she would have made him promise that he took her out for celebration after the NEWTs. Perhaps even find some interesting methods of stress relieve at the weekends.

There were so many options to use that would have bound Harry to her. But Weasley didn't seem to understand that. She had from what Daphne had heard tried to make Harry, who hated publicity and his fame, go to stupid parties that had no other meaning than showing off the wealth of the hosts and the guests. As if Weasley would ever be able to get there on her own. She should have chosen her battles and fought those that she could win. Like telling Harry that she wanted to go to the Ministry's New Year's ball. That one was an important event and after the NEWTs Harry wouldn't have denied it to his girlfriend. It would have cemented Weasley's position as the most important woman in Harry Potter's life.

But seemingly Weasleys tended to be greedy when there was a bit of good fortune available. Ron Weasley was a perfect example for that. He should realise that once the high he was floating on now was over he would fall down hard. If he wanted any good job he needed NEWTs and become a fully qualified wizard. The easiest way would have been taking the three month intensive course. Many jobs were currently opened to those with a little worse qualifications than what was normally required, not only the aurors.

But then again Weasley had never been smart and had only got through school with Granger pulling him through. It was an open secret that Weasley's idea of learning was copying from Granger. Harry at least did his work and then let her look over it. Not to mention that once he had realised that his life was on the line regularly, which she pinned down to after his second year, he had risen from an average ranking in their year to being among the top ten. While he didn't stand out massively in class like Granger did, he overall had good grades except in Potions and that to be honest was massively the fault of Professor Snape who had had no patience with Gryffindors in general and Harry Potter in particular. She had quickly realised by simply watching the famous Gryffindor during the shared Potions classes that he had no prior knowledge of brewing, wizarding traditions and anything related to the magical world. He was like a muggleborn, but everybody expected him to be like a pureblood, raised to fill his position neatly. She had just expected that somebody would remedy that part quickly; after all, Harry was a person of public interest.

Harry definitely had potential and if she made this work between them, now that he was single and not bound to any prior love interest, she might get the good life that she had dreamed of when she had been younger. Have a nice husband, enough gold to live comfortably, a nice house to raise her children and with Harry she could even keep a job. Not to mention that sex with him was great. That was a really important factor. She watched him work in the kitchen being completely at ease. He definitely had done this regularly in his past. Probably for his muggle family which made her frown. She didn't have the impression from what she had heard in third year from Lavender Brown who knew that Harry had blown up his muggle aunt and had run away from home that he liked them. So had they forced him to work for them? She suppressed a giggle when he seemed to struggle with getting the stove to work but soon figured it out. Then he easily prepared some stew. It smelled good. He set the table while the stew was cooking and took some bread rolls she had that only needed some crisping up and put them into the oven for a while. Once he was done he took the pot from the stove with gloves and put it onto the table and put the bread rolls into a basket before he served them both.

"This looks really good, Harry." Daphne complimented.

"I hope it tastes like that as well, enjoy your meal." He said and took one bread rolls and broke it in half.

"Same to you." She said and took a spoonful of the stew.

It was incredibly good. She had never tasted something like this. She could tell that he had used the potatoes, carrots and pork that she had had in the cold cupboard as a base. But how he had managed to make it taste this good was a miracle to her. Even the Greengrass house elves weren't this good at cooking.

"Wow, this is really good, where did you learn cooking like this?" She asked before hitting herself mentally as this would probably an unwanted memory.

"From Mrs Figg, my old babysitter." Harry answered smiling easily. "I found out the summer before fifth year that she is a squib and belonged to Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix. She was keeping an eye on me while I was younger. Whenever the Dursleys, my relatives that I don't want to really talk about, went away on a trip or vacations they left me with her. While she told me after the dementor attack in summer before fifth year that she couldn't be too nice to me or the Dursleys wouldn't have let me come over, she taught me all about cooking properly during two weeks that the Dursleys were on Majorca when I was eight. It was really nice; she bought all kinds of great food and showed me how to cook easy but good-tasting meals. Those two weeks are among the really nice memories I have of my childhood. I got to eat as much as I wanted and what I wanted. In the mornings she suggested what we could cook for lunch and then she got the ingredients and I learned from her. Later she told Aunt Petunia that she had made sure that I knew my way around the kitchen and wouldn't be a burden to her there again. To me she winked, knowing that she had to say that to not have my aunt raise a stink."

"Your relatives sound horrible." Daphne commented.

"They are and if I have my way I will never see them again." Harry said convinced.

They ate and talked about some unimportant things. Daphne had a way to entertain Harry with stories from the snake pit that he really liked. It was easier to talk to her than he had expected. Perhaps this could really work out.

* * *

**Hope you liked it, till next time. **


	6. Arrival

**And here is the next chapter, enjoy.**

* * *

**Arrival**

Daphne sat in her living room with her best friend Tracy Davis. She had promised her to inform her immediately once she found out who the father of her child was or if the child was about to be born. She had only waited until Harry had decided what to do before she invited Tracy over. Thanks to a really good muggle bakery two houses down the street she now had a nice selection of pieces of cakes which she could offer Tracy to go with the tea. Daphne really couldn't understand how some people liked that horrible coffee. It was way too bitter for her taste.

"So what is the important news? Did you finally find a way to find out who the father is before the child is born?" Tracy asked eagerly.

"I have found out who the father is, but it was a great coincidence. You probably won't believe who it is." Daphne said.

"Please tell me it isn't Malfoy." Tracy begged.

Daphne grimaced in shudder.

"No, not him. Thank Merlin for that. I don't want to imagine what would have been if he was the father. No, the father of my baby is Harry Potter." Daphne said hoping Tracy would take that part well.

"Nice try, Daphne, but pull the other one. How would Potter have been able to play the horned warrior on Beltane when he was the most wanted man in the country at that time?" Tracy laughed until she saw the serious look on Daphne's face. "Oh my god, you aren't joking, are you?"

"No, he really is the father. He disguised himself with red hair, contact lenses which are easy to get in the muggle world obviously and a headband to hide his scar. With how everybody knows that Harry Potter has messy black hair, wears glasses and has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead nobody would have recognised him. I never even suspected a thing from how he behaved. It was nothing like how I knew Potter from school. During the ceremony he was bold and seductive. Merlin he was so good at making me feel good. The only hint I got was that his glamour charms on his hair disappeared when we entered the rune circle but at that time I wasn't aware that all magic was undone in the circle and only the magic of the union of the goddess and the horned warrior was active." Daphne explained.

"Yes you mentioned your impression that his hair changed colour but pushed that thought away as a trick of the light." Tracy remembered. "So how did you find out?"

Daphne described her meeting with Harry at the Leaky Cauldron and the test at St. Mungo's.

"That was an incredible coincidence. Some would call it fate." Tracy mentioned. "So he is willing to acknowledge the child as his, that's a relief."

"I know. Harry wants to be part of our baby's life and as he has broken up with Weasley over her stupid pushing behaviour there might be a chance that I can make him mine over time." Daphne said

"You want to take it slow?" Tracy asked surprised.

"Yes, I need to if I want him to decide that we can be more than friends. You have to remember that he was horribly hurt by Weasley and the whole wizarding world. He is still dealing with the mental trauma he went through. From the rumours and things I could observe myself Harry was nearly driven too far. That he even went to the Beltane celebration is a clear sign that he was close to breaking. He was put under constant pressure since he returned to our world after being raised by his nasty muggle relatives. He doesn't say it openly but he always changes the topic if his relatives or his childhood are mentioned. I think about the only positive contact he had was his babysitter who taught him how to cook and she was a squib." Daphne explained. "Harry is a great man, nothing at all like how Malfoy and Snape described him. He is very honourable and he really doesn't like his fame. While he now has some support in form of Andromeda Tonks, the grandmother of his godson Teddy Lupin, to teach him how to face the press concerning his victory over You-Know-Who he needs more time to come to terms with his feelings of guilt and loss."

"I see. I guess I never really thought about the person behind the symbol that is Harry Potter." Tracy admitted. "Did you ask him about names for the baby?"

"Yes, he liked the two I chose. His idea was using middle names of people he is descended from. In case of a boy we will name him Caspian Ignotus Greengrass-Potter and a girl Rhapsody Isabelle Greengrass-Potter." Daphne answered-

"He is willing to let the child have his name?" Tracy asked astonished.

"I was surprised as well. He said that he doesn't want his child to feel unloved by him. He really wants to have a family and I think he secretly hopes that it will work out between us but he is too afraid right now to commit to anything. Weasley really hurt him. I will make sure that he knows that I will support him and be there when he needs me. Everything else will come over time. He will even ask the leader of the healer academy to test me fairly once I am ready to start studying in that profession. I was surprised but he doesn't think anything wrong with me wanting to work once the child is old enough to not need me permanently and can spend a few hours with a babysitter or him if he can arrange his own schedule around it." Daphne smiled.

"Wow, I think I'm jealous. To find a man like that is incredibly rare. Most would expect you to stay at home and take care of the house and children once you are married and would sneer at the thought of a woman with a child making career." Tracy stated.

Daphne could only nod.

"So will you move in with him once the child is born?" Tracy asked.

"Not directly. I also happen to like my flat and I will only move out and rent it out if I'm sure I can make things between me and Harry work. My first priority is my child and the less awkward things are between Harry and me the better it will be. I know this will take time but the start isn't as bad as it could have been. Harry could have had the same beliefs as Ron Weasley and thought all Slytherins are evil incarnate. In that case he would probably have set up a trust vault with the minimum amount of gold to support the child and acknowledged it as his and be done with it. Or he could have used his influence to get custody over the baby once it didn't need me anymore. No court would have decided against him. I won't risk anything and with him by my side I can also be sure that Stella and Astoria won't be able to harm me and the baby. I know she already tries to poison people's minds against me but as I am pregnant with a Beltane child the attempt so far backfired. But if I seem to be a bad mother she could get the upper hand." Daphne voiced one of her worries.

"You are much too sly and cunning to be caught in one of her traps. Okay, I will of course always be there for you and support you. And I want to be godmother of the baby." Tracy said.

"I think I can talk Harry into that." Daphne said confidently.

* * *

Harry dreaded the meeting. He had invited all of his friends over to have some support when he revealed that he would have a child with Daphne Greengrass in under a month. The ones being there were the remaining members of the DA plus the Weasleys. Harry had decided that telling everybody at once would be the easiest thing. At least this way he would have more backup if Molly and Ginny turned on him which was a high possibility. Hermione was sure that most of the wizarding raised people that would be there would understand the special situation of Beltane. Harry's biggest concern was Mrs Weasley and Ginny. But he wouldn't exclude them from this as he knew that if he ever wanted to reconcile with the people that had been there for him all the years he needed to confront this openly. And he wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. Finally everybody was there.

"Thank you all for coming. I have invited you to tell you some important news that will probably be all over the public once the information gets out and as it concerns me that won't be that long." Harry said sighing and got a few laughs and a shout from Lee 'Too right!' "Therefore I decided that I needed to get this out to you, who really matter to me, the right way before any lies are spread and you get the wrong idea. Luna, I would like you to publish the news in the Quibbler once the event takes place. I thought of a nice official announcement with a few quotes from me and the second person involved."

"Of course I will do that, Harry. Daddy will be pleased to have a chance to make the trouble he caused for you up." Luna said.

Harry simply nodded and steeled his resolve.

"Alright, I already told Hermione this as I needed some good advice how to tell you all about this and because I knew she would have had my head if I didn't plan this properly." He said and the others nodded seriously which made Hermione huff good-naturedly. "Are you all familiar with the ceremony of Beltane?"

The girls got big eyes and Mrs Weasley gasped, holding her hands in front of her mouth. The boys looked at him shrewdly and then gave comments about Harry having all the luck.

"Were you chosen for the ceremony this year anywhere?" Seamus asked lewdly.

"No, it was last year." Harry admitted and then told them the story he had also told Hermione.

It was time to come clear. The one thing he, Ron and Hermione had sworn to never reveal to anybody was just what the items they had hunted were. They didn't want a wannabe dark lord to get the idea of copying Voldemort.

They gave appropriate reactions at the right places. Then Harry let the bomb drop that he would become a father at the end of January and he fully intended to acknowledge the child as his and make sure that it wouldn't miss out on anything.

"A Beltane child?" Mrs Weasley asked shocked. "That's wonderful." She then exclaimed to everybody's shock.

"You're not mad?" Harry asked surprised.

He couldn't believe that Mrs Weasley, the one person to always rant about appropriate behaviour, who had been totally against Bill marrying Fleur because she was French and much less reserved in showing her affections than English girls, was accepting a Beltane child this easily. He had expected her to blow up on him and giving him a scolding that would make his ears ring.

"Mad, no, I know how stressed you must have been in that situation and I was really sad that we weren't able to spare you that grief. I knew my attempts to keep you all at home were futile, but I couldn't help myself. And being chosen, even if coincidentally, as either the goddess or the horned warrior is a great honour. I'm normally against sleeping with somebody before you are married, but Beltane is different in that regard. Especially if you are chosen as the horned warrior or the goddess. They aren't allowed to be married. And a child that was conceived in that ceremony is a blessing that will stay with you for all your life. Any further children that you will have after this one will be powerful and healthy. I must know because Bill is a Beltane child as well." She revealed blushing slightly. "And anyway, you are doing the right thing by acknowledging the child as yours, so any remarks about your honour won't stick. But could you tell us who the mother is?"

Harry looked around. Except for Ginny, who looked furious but was silenced and stuck to her seat by Angelina and Alicia, or Ron, who didn't seem to know what to think, they all seemed happy for him. The question was if they would take the identity of the mother of his child as well.

"Daphne Greengrass." He answered.

"A Slytherin?" Ron shouted enraged only to be hit by a silencing charm from Parvati.

"Ron you dolt, he already told us that he didn't know who the girl was as they only met once they had their masks on and that it was a coincidence he found out before a blood test was done once the child was born." George scolded. "Congratulations, Harry, she is a real looker. Even if she was a Slytherin I can acknowledge true beauty when I see it."

Harry got similar remarks from his other friends. He was very relieved that they mostly took this so well.

The main exceptions were Ron and Ginny but his other friends were taking care of them. Angelina and Alicia took her out of the room and gave her a stern talking to about proper behaviour, how she had given up on Harry and had no right to criticise him for now wanting to do the right thing. Ron tried to protest but Bill made sure to point out a few facts to him. Harry really hoped Ron would come around. While he was annoyed with him, he was still his first ever friend and he didn't want to lose him.

* * *

Harry looked over the draft of the article that Luna planned to publish once the baby was born with Daphne. He wanted that this was done properly and she was as much involved in this as him.

"I like the article. She accurately describes the history of Beltane and the importance of the ceremony to our world, the status of Beltane children and what a blessing they are for our world. I was surprised that Mrs Weasley would add such positive comments as well." Daphne commented.

"Me too, it was a real surprise when she told us that Bill was a Beltane child as well. But it made it easier for a lot of others to accept the situation. The only ones to predictably be against this are Ron and Ginny. Ginny because she still seems to think that I belong to her and that I will 'see reason' and return to her and Ron because you were in Slytherin. His idea of how the world works is a little too black and white." Harry informed her sadly.

"I noticed. I'm just happy that the rest of your friends are this supportive. By the way have you thought about who we want to make godparents?" Daphne asked.

"Well my first choice is Hermione for godmother and as Ron is an arse right now Neville for godfather." Harry said after a short time of thinking about it.

"My choices would be my best friend Tracy Davis for godmother and my cousin Eric Valoris for godfather. Tracy was in our year in Slytherin and Eric is two years older and was in Ravenclaw." Daphne announced her favourites.

"How does your cousin stand to your whole family trouble?" Harry asked.

"He thinks that Stella will fall hard in the near future as she believes that the old alliances that my father retained will help her keep her standing. From rumours the Malfoy fortune is down to a quarter of its former size after the trials of all three Malfoys and it will be a black mark on the union of Astoria and Draco that he was in prison for two years and had to absolve one thousand five hundred hours of unpaid community service. As I got a good part of the gold that was in the Greengrass family vault into my personal vault before they threw me out they have even less than they expect. I didn't see any reason to not take what I could of my rightful inheritance before they could deny it to me." Daphne said grinning satisfied.

"How much did you get away? I can't imagine that the goblins would have driven you from one vault to the other countless times." Harry asked.

"About twenty thousand after I discovered that I was pregnant. Four trips to Gringotts over two months didn't stand out too much. I paid one thousand eight hundred for this flat. I haggled the seller down from two thousand by stating that I needed to completely renovate and that it was in a purely muggle community." She informed him mischievously.

"And you wanted to have a place where no normal pureblood that might support your step-mother would reach you easily. Clever, Daphne, really clever." Harry complimented.

"Why thank you. So good that you appreciate my ingeniousness." She teased him.

"How did the examination this morning go? I'm sorry that I couldn't come." Harry apologised.

He had taken the first of the entry tests for the auror academy this morning and had therefore not been able to accompany Daphne to her appointment with healer Cobalt.

"Everything is alright. She said that I should be ready to get there at a moment's notice. During the last two weeks it can happen that the birth suddenly starts even if it is before the estimated date." Daphne informed him stroking her massive stomach.

"Don't forget to call me when you go into labour. I want to be there when our child is born." Harry reminded her.

"I won't. I'm happy to know that you want to experience it with me." She said smiling honestly.

It was strange. Harry was massively different than other wizards their age that she got to know. None of the pureblood heirs that she had expected to become betrothed with by contract would have ever considered staying with her when she gave birth. Wizards like Malfoy, Nott, Zabini or her father would have waited for the announcement of the gender of the baby, informed the press of the name and only appeared once the hard part was over. If it was a boy they would have proudly presented their heir and then the work would have been hers to do with the help of some house elves. With a girl the announcement would have been all they did. But Harry was looking forward to the baby and wanted to be there at every step of the way. Once he had found out he had made an honest effort to help her where he could and to get to know her. He really wasn't what they all had thought of him at school.

She had been over at his house to see it and she was impressed what he had made of it. It was a warm house and offered a lot of space for a future family. If she would be part of that she didn't know yet, but she wouldn't mind if it happened. She had planned that if they got closer to move in with him as the house was better suited to live in as a family and on top had a house elf that could watch over the baby in case both of them needed a break. The flat lay in an area that was wealthy and it would be easy to rent it out in that case. It was one of the reasons she had chosen it. At the time her thinking was more in the line of her managing to kick Stella and Astoria out of the Greengrass mansion by giving birth to a son and setting him up as the legitimate heir. Now it could be that if she and Harry worked out she would move in with him. But only if she felt like it was really working out. She needed to make sure that she didn't have open flanks for her baby's sake.

* * *

Daphne felt a sharp pain in her abdomen wake her up in the middle of the night and then felt fluid run down her legs. Her water had broken. She needed to get to St. Mungo's. Just coordinating her body right now was difficult. Damn, she hadn't calculated for that. A wave of pain ran through her body, shit this was really difficult. How would she be able to properly floo in this state? Apparating was out of the question, she would surely splinch. She needed to call for help, Harry. Where did she put that two-way-mirror that he had given her as an easy means to contact him? Right, the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen and took the small round mirror out of the drawer she had put it into.

"Harry." She called to the mirror and waited for him to answer.

Soon his face appeared on the surface.

"Daphne, what's wrong?" He asked sleepily. Now wonder it was three in the morning.

"My water broke, Harry, and I need help to get to St., oh shit," she groaned when a new contraction hit her.

"I'm on my way. Wait for me and don't try to go on your own." He commanded, being completely awake.

"You don't say, hurry." She said and turned the mirror off, panting over the lessening contraction.

She knew from the books that Granger had got her that the process of giving birth could take hours; she really didn't look forward to it. At least the hospital had trained healers that could numb the pain. She heard the floo rush and soon Harry was by her side, wearing jeans and pullover.

"Where is your packed bag?" He asked calmly.

She guessed it was from all the times he had needed to act under pressure that he could be so calm.

"In my bedroom right next to the bed." She answered, glad to be able to let him take charge. She was kind of busy right now with her body.

"I'll be right back, try those breathing exercises that healer Cobalt told you to use." He said and left the room.

She thought it might be a good idea and started inhaling deeply and letting out the air in short rushes. Harry returned after not even a minute and held his wand in his hand. He spoke a few words at the top and then created a patronus that took off.

"What did you do?" Daphne asked.

"I sent my patronus to healer Cobalt informing her that the baby is coming so that she can be there soon. I don't want you to suffer more than unavoidable and I have no idea of how to help you right now." He admitted apologetically.

That was typically Harry she had learned. He hated if others suffered, even more if he couldn't help. He helped her lean on him and then called Kreacher. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Apparition with a house elf is different to doing it yourself or side-along apparition. I experienced it before and it's much easier on your body, which I definitely prefer in your current situation. Kreacher, please take us to St. Mungo's." Harry said.

"Yes, Master Harry." Kreacher said happily.

The old elf was really happy that his master would become father to a Beltane child. Having served the Blacks all his life he had grown up with pureblood ideals and being chosen for the Beltane ceremony and conceiving a child in it was very prestigious in the magical world. He secretly hoped that his master would marry Miss Daphne. She was a proper pureblood witch and certainly was good for his master. Kreacher took Harry's hand and apparated them over to the hospital.

* * *

Healer Cobalt was waiting for them in the lobby already.

"Daphne, Harry, good to see you. Now, Daphne, sit in the wheelchair, we will take care of everything else. Harry, you wanted to be present during the birth, right?" She asked a last time while supporting Daphne sit in the wheelchair.

"Yes, I want to give Daphne any support I can." He said determined.

"Very well, follow us." She said and pushed the wheelchair forward while Harry carried Daphne's bag.

Harry was told that the birth would probably take at least three hours and that he should inform anybody he wanted to know and have here while they were waiting until the contractions came in shorter intervals. Harry nodded and told Daphne that he would soon return. Soon he had patroni on their way to the Weasleys, he hoped Ron and Ginny wouldn't make a scene, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Tracey, Eric and Andromeda. Once they were off he returned to Daphne who had changed into other clothes and was lying on a bed. She looked to be in less pain than before.

"We can only wait now. The contractions will increase in frequency over time." Healer Cobalt assured Daphne who only nodded.

Harry sat down on the chair next to the bed and took her hand. Now they had to wait and let nature run its course.

* * *

Four hours later Daphne was squeezing Harry's hand a lot harder. The contractions now came faster and she was pressing down to get the child out into the world. Harry spoke with her the whole time, encouraging her and that she would soon hold her baby in her arms. That more than anything made Daphne keep going on. She wanted this over with and hold her baby.

Finally healer Cobalt told her that she saw the head and Daphne kept going on. It was hard, she was exhausted but she continued. There was no potion she could really take as the baby wouldn't take well to her taking one. The dose would be too high. It was one of the downsides of pregnancy. Only a few special potions could be used and it was much better if you forewent them at all if possible. Then she pressed a last time and felt the baby coming out. At least magic allowed shortening the time you were in labour. She had read that some muggle women needed eight or even ten hours to give birth. Healer Cobalt held out the screaming baby.

"It's a boy, Daphne and Harry. My deepest congratulations." She said.

Both young adults smiled brilliantly at her. Harry was given the task of cutting the umbical cord. He set the cut exactly where the healer showed him before letting his new-born son be taken to be examined and cleaned by a nurse that had assisted with the birth.

Daphne felt another contraction and was confused. Shouldn't she be done?

"Oh, now this is a surprise. This didn't show up on the diagnostic charms. Another one." Healer Cobalt said after casting another diagnostic charm. "Well, keep going on, Daphne, your son gets a twin. I don't know why only one baby was registered but there is a second one that now clearly also wants out."

"Twins?" Harry asked shocked.

"Yep. Your union must really have been harmonious and your magic well-suited to each other. Beltane twins are incredibly rare. Perhaps one couple in five thousand." Healer Cobalt informed them. "It's why I never even thought of checking for a hidden twin. It can happen if the magical aura of the children is very similar that one is overshadowing the other. Normally the spell is used in families that have had a tendency to have twins along the line regularly."

Daphne continued pressing and after a few more minutes a second cry sounded.

"This one is a little girl." Healer Cobalt said happily and Harry again was allowed to cut the umbical cord.

He was overwhelmed. A son and a daughter. He was so happy. His baby girl was taken away for examination again while healer Cobalt helped Daphne with the afterbirth. The placenta came out and Daphne was given a potion to sooth her womb and make it decrease at a safe pace. Then both babies were brought to them. Harry was given their son while Daphne got their daughter. They held the two babies next to each other and while Daphne was really tired she looked incredibly happy.

"Thank you for this great gift, Daphne." Harry said honestly touched. "Good that we have chosen two names already."

"Yes, they are so beautiful. Hey babies, I'm your Mummy." She introduced herself. "It's so wonderful to finally see you."

"And I'm your Daddy, I'm so happy that you are here." Harry added, carefully stroking the tiny cheek of his son. He could tell that the boy had got his black hair from the dark tuft on his head; the girl's hair seemed lighter. Well, they would find out in the next weeks.

* * *

Harry left the room where Daphne and the babies rested once they were cleaned and in case of the babies dressed in romper suits. The healers had given them all a clean bill of health. He had taken a few pictures of his babies once they were sleeping peacefully in their romper suits; one shot of each baby would be added to Luna's article which would be published today in a special evening edition. Luna had promised that the day of the birth everybody would have the chance to read the real story before the Prophet could make up some lies. Outside he met with Hermione, Neville, Luna, Andromeda, Tracy, Eric, Bill, Fleur and George.

"Mum and Dad will come by later. At the moment they are babysitting Teddy and want us to give you their best wishes." George told Harry. "So please don't let us guess anymore, is it a boy or a girl? And what names did you choose?"

Harry laughed at George's attempt to use puppy dog eyes. It was good to see him as recovered as now after Fred's death.

"Both." He announced happily. "It was a total surprise but it were twins. I'm father of Caspian and Rhapsody Greengrass-Potter now." Harry announced beaming with happiness.

The others heaped congratulations on him. The women hugged him and the men slapped him on the back. Tracy and Eric were a lot less expressive though as they didn't know Harry as well. Next to congratulating they asked when they could see the babies.

"Healer Cobalt said that you could enter in groups of four but not more. I want that the first ones are Hermione, Neville, Tracy and Eric." Harry said.

"Do you by any chance have some photos already, Harry?" Luna asked excitedly.

"Yes, here are the two that we chose for the Quibbler article. Their full names are Caspian Ignotus Greengrass-Potter and Rhapsody Isabelle Greengrass-Potter." Harry said and handed Luna the pictures. He handed Andy three more. "These are going to go into the family photo album."

The ones that had to wait outside were passing the photos around cooing over the cuteness of the babies.

* * *

Inside the room Daphne still held one baby in her arm, the second one was sleeping in a crib next to her bed.

"Hey Daph," Tracy greeted her best friend, "congratulations. I can't believe you are a Mum now." She hugged her taking care of the baby in her arms. "The babies are both so cute."

"Thank you. I'm really tired, but so happy." Daphne said. "This is Caspian; Rhapsody is asleep in the crib."

The others stepped closer and looked at the babies in wonder. Rhapsody was wearing a pink suit while Caspian had a blue one. They suspected that the hospital simply kept them as standard ones until the parents got their own for the babies. Harry looked at Daphne. He had intentionally chosen the four that they had decided to make godparents to their children.

"Guys, Daphne and I wanted to ask you something." Harry started.

"When we talked about how we wanted to go about the situation we also pondered who we wanted to have as our children's' godparents. The best we could come up with was taking one of my friends and one of Harry's." Daphne continued.

"Now, as we have two children we didn't have to choose too hard. We would like for Hermione and Eric to become godparents to Caspian and Tracy and Neville to Rhapsody. Would you give us the honour to become godparents to our children?" Harry asked hopefully.

Tracy and Hermione squealed happily.

"Of course I will do it, Harry." Hermione said.

"Same for me. No way would I pass up on the chance to be godmother to my best friend's child. I'm happy you trust me enough to take the position." Tracy confirmed.

"I'll be honoured, Daphne." Eric simply said smiling. "This will so irk Stella and Astoria. I'll have to make sure that they get a copy of the Quibbler."

"It's really an honour, Harry, but why me and not Ron?" Neville asked. "I mean, I'll definitely do it, but isn't he your best friend?"

"I thought he was, but I fear that his irrational feelings for anybody that was in Slytherin wouldn't make him a very good godfather." Harry admitted. "And you saw that he didn't even come to congratulate."

Hermione could see how much that hurt Harry. To think that at the moment where all of his surrogate family should celebrate with him his so-called best friend wasn't there. She hugged him and told him that Ron had made his decision and that she would stay with Harry and not Ron.

* * *

**Okay, the babies are there! And I decided to go with twins. After all, Harry can't be normal at anything so he had to father two children instead of one ;) Till next time.**


	7. Announcing Happiness

**Announcing Happiness**

_The Double Blessing_

_By Luna Lovegood_

_All of us raised in the wizarding world and many of us who entered this world when they were eleven and were told by friends why certain dates were magically especially important will know what the meaning of Beltane is. For the younger readers let me summarize the meaning of Beltane. In the old religion, which more than three quarters of our people belongs to, there are a few dates that hold more magical power than others. Imbolc, Beltane, Lugnasadh and Samhain are the first ones to think of. Beltane is the day where we celebrate the awakening earth and unite in love to bless the harvest for the new year. Each year one young man and woman are chosen to participate in the Beltane ceremony as the goddess and the horned warrior. Each celebration has its own pair of main characters. The goddess and the horned warrior unite their bodies in a ceremony of pure emotions and the magic that is released by this act is directly transferred into the earth by a runic circle in which this ceremony takes place apart from prying eyes. Only the chosen goddess and the warrior can enter or see the circle, such is the powerful magic active on Beltane._

_Now the greatest blessing that a couple can receive from the goddess is that a union at Beltane is crowned by the conception of a child. A so-called Beltane Child, not limited to the chosen couple but all those that decided to celebrate their love at that date as well, is seen as a gift to the family and the parents of said child can be assured that any later born children will be strong and healthy. The Beltane child itself will always be in tune with its magic and therefore capable of magical deeds that others struggle with. Our society will always look fondly at a child born thanks to that union._

_A prominent example of a family who was blessed with a Beltane child in the past is the Weasley family. Molly Weasley confirmed for the Quibbler that her first-born son William was a Beltane child and her six following children all proved to be good at magic which shows in their chosen professions or their results at school. _

_This morning of 30__th__ January 1999 Harry James Potter, known by some as the Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One or more recently the Man-Who-Conquered, though Harry himself hates every single one of his titles, and Daphne Jasmine Greengrass announced happily that they have become parents of two wonderful babies. Harry and Daphne were the chosen goddess and horned warrior at the Beltane rites last year in Cornwall and the two children conceived that night have been born after a bit over four hours of labour in which both new parents waited excitedly for the birth. After finding out about the children to be his Harry Potter who is now head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter and the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black immediately declared that he would acknowledge the children as his and that he and Daphne Greengrass, heiress to the Ancient House of Greengrass, are currently getting to know each other better as they didn't have much interaction at their time at school due to being sorted into Gryffindor and Slytherin respectively._

_Caspian Ignotus Greengrass-Potter and his minutes younger twin sister Rhapsody Isabelle Greengrass-Potter will grow up under the care of both their happy parents. This reporter got the opportunity to interview both new parents._

_The Quibbler (TQ): Congratulations to the birth of your children, Harry and Daphne. How do you feel?_

_Harry Potter (HP): I can't imagine a greater gift than the two little wonders that Daphne gave birth to this morning. I am incredibly happy and grateful that everything with the birth went well. Healer Cobalt and her team took a lot of Daphne's and my anxiety about becoming parents away and I am now looking forward to raising my children together with Daphne._

_Daphne Greengrass (DG): I am so happy that they are finally here. Even if it was a surprise that we were going to have twins instead of only one child. Thankfully we had a boy and a girl as we had chosen names for both because I didn't want to know the gender of the baby before it was born._

_TQ: How did it happen that you were the horned warrior, Harry, you were a wanted man at that time?_

_HP: I was in disguise as I needed a break from the mission I had to do. My original plan was to only go to one of the Beltane fires to dance a bit and perhaps find somebody who was there on her own as well, but then I was roped into being replacement for the original horned warrior. I can't say that I regret this as it has given me my two greatest treasures._

_TQ: Daphne, how did you find out that it was Harry who was the father?_

_DG: It was a coincidence. I had asked the organisers who had been the horned warrior to inform him that I was pregnant with his child but they had never asked for his name and he was gone in the morning as it is tradition of the ceremony. When I was in Diagon Alley to buy some more things for the nursery that I was setting up my bag fell down and Harry picked it up. He was there for breakfast coincidentally and we talked about my baby. I told him how I was going to have a Beltane child and how I didn't know the father. One thing led to another and we directly went to St. Mungo's because Harry needed to know if he really was the father which a test done by Healer Cobalt confirmed. After getting some advice how to behave in such a situation from a family friend who grew up with our traditions Harry decided that the best solution for everybody involved, especially the children, was that we spent more time together to see if we could be friends at least and perhaps more. _

_TQ: And what is the current opinion on that?_

_HP: We work well together and I like Daphne. I can't tell more yet because we only spent a few weeks together. We will share the raising of the children and perhaps more will come out of this, perhaps not. I can promise though that I will never turn my back on my children. I grew up without parents and I don't want that my children will go through that as well._

_DG: Harry is a true gentleman and I am really impressed with how well he has taken the situation and wants to be part of our lives. He is a really nice man and I look forward to getting to know him better without any stupid preconceptions that sadly were part of our Hogwarts days._

_TQ: How are your families taking the situation?_

_DG: My step-mother didn't like that I was pregnant and the fact that it was a child conceived in the Beltane ceremony didn't matter. If she could have done it she would have disinherited me. I haven't spoken to her and my half-sister since I was told to leave the Greengrass mansion and not to return. My cousin Eric Valoris though is very happy for me and has agreed to be godfather to Caspian._

_HP: While I don't have any blood-relatives that I would want to include in my happiness, the people that over the years have come to be my surrogate family have been very supportive and are happy for me. My surrogate sister Hermione Granger had also agreed to be Caspian's godmother. We chose Daphne's best friend Tracy Davis and my friend Neville Longbottom for Rhapsody's godparents. I think my godson will be happier that he will have somebody to play with in a few years though._

_TQ: Thank you for your time and the best wishes for you and your children._

_HP+DG: Thank you Luna._

_The new family wishes to tell all readers that they would like that any good wishes and presents for the children are directed to a post box they have set up where security checks will be performed to make sure that no harmful spells or substances threaten the recipients. They hope that everybody can understand the need for security in regards to the position Harry Potter has in our society._

* * *

The article in the Quibbler led to massive requests for that edition and Xeno again had to reprint countless times, which he was more than happy to do. Luna had already warned him that the demand would be high and he had been prepared to start immediately. The reactions ranged from happiness for the couple, awe about Beltane twins, not to mention outbreaks of cooing over the cute twins, jealousy that Daphne was now in the best position to seduce Harry to fury about the accusations against Stella Greengrass. It had been a calculated move on Daphne's side to tell exactly how her step-mother had reacted. She didn't need more than mention her probable plans to disinherit her as the Greengrass heiress, people would think their part. The mere fact that Stella had thrown Daphne out over a Beltane child was a scandal already and even former allies wouldn't take Stella's side in this. Especially not when they knew that Harry Potter was the father of the children.

Harry and Daphne meanwhile got lots of good advice from Andromeda and Molly who had taken the positions of honourable grandmothers of the children. Ron had been mad that Harry hadn't asked him to be godfather of one of the children, but Harry had coldly countered that he hadn't been sure that Ron would be able to look past the fact that his children's mother had been in Slytherin and that he hadn't even come to congratulate when the twins were born. He had been undecided if he should ask Ron or Neville until he saw that only Neville had come to congratulate him for becoming a father and seeing the children when he had sent a patronus to both of them. Bill and George had then taken over berating Ron over that and Hermione and Luna had made it clear to Ginny that if she tried anything that would hurt Harry or Daphne she would have to go up against them. Surprisingly Ginny had grudgingly accepted the situation easier.

Luna and Hermione could be scary when they wanted to and had clearly pointed out that it was her own fault and only hers that Harry was even considering being together with Daphne for the children. Not to mention all others that Ginny had tried to sway to her side. Ginny had been the one that tried to make him do things he hated. She had tried to use his fame to get to parties, tried to show him around like a prize she had won. Harry hated his fame and was an incredibly private person. The announcement of the birth of his children and the circumstances behind it was only to avoid people telling lies about him and Daphne which would in turn harm the children. On top of her stupid demands to him to take her to parties he didn't want to go to, she just had to pressure him during the time he was studying for his NEWTs, attempting to catch up over a year's worth of material which he hadn't been able to learn normally thanks to being forced to be on the run.

If she had really loved him she would have been supportive and let Harry get the NEWTs done before trying to get their relationship moved forward. Now she had lost him forever. Ginny had tried to deny it but Luna's words had been clear and true.

"You were the only one he wanted after the battle. He fought thinking that he could build up a life together with you but you had to throw it away over a stupid bout of greed. You're no better than Ronald." Luna had said and that was it.

Ginny now tried to find another boyfriend, but many had heard how she had treated Harry and were weary. Not to mention that nobody wanted to be a replacement boyfriend and be compared to Harry Potter.

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**A short chapter but I thought it would work out best this way. Till next week.**


	8. Reactions

**Reactions**

Stella Greengrass couldn't believe her eyes. She had been confused why she had had a copy of that ragtag magazine 'The Quibbler' in her mail. She didn't have a subscription as it was beneath her to read the nonsense that Xeno Lovegood published. Not to mention that the man had been on Potter's side and published anti-dark propaganda when the Dark Lord had been in power. She still looked over the cover to see why anybody would send her a copy. The cover showed that slag Daphne with Harry Potter of all people, his arm around her waist sitting on an elegant leather sofa. In the picture Daphne was clearly still pregnant.

She had immediately looked up where the story the cover referred was printed. She read through the article and got madder and madder. How could that little slut have done this? Potter was the father of her child? No children! The little bloodtraitor couldn't even keep it to one of those disgraces for the Greengrass name, no it had to be two and one of them was a boy. She would have to act and make people see how disgraceful this was for House Greengrass. Daphne should have been faithful to her fiancé, not slept around with another man, and of all possible candidates not with Harry Potter! She would see to it that the girl learned that you didn't go up against Stella Greengrass.

Stella made a list in her head who might be able to help her. She had to cross out some names as they had already refused to help her slander Daphne's name just because the cursed children were conceived on Beltane. Sure, it was an important date for their community but it was no reason to let yourself get knocked up when you were already betrothed. Not to mention that if Daphne's betrothed hadn't unfortunately been killed in the battle of Hogwarts the Greengrass's would have had to pay reparation for letting him marry a 'damaged bride'. And that would have been really expensive.

* * *

Astoria Greengrass sat in the Great Hall at Hogwarts and read the article about the children of her older half-sister being born with a growing feeling of dread. This could prove to be a problem. Contrary to her mother she was more aware what this would mean in the future. Not only did Daphne have a son that was now first in line to inherit the Greengrass title and the connected fortune she also had somebody backing her up that couldn't simply be taken out. Harry Potter was a powerful wizard and the children of the old supporters of the Dark Lord had felt just how much things had changed at Hogwarts after the battle that the light had won. Not only were the classes that the Dark Lord had started up taken away from the schedules, all teachers made it abundantly clear that the bullying that Slytherins and purebloods supporting the Dark Lord had been allowed to do would not be tolerated anymore and harsh punishments awaited everybody who behaved that disgracefully.

Headmistress McGonagall was taking things really serious and with the new security personnel that had been hired to patrol the corridors it was made reality. Anybody caught bullying or accused to do so would be detained and brought to the headmistress. And denying that you did so in case of accusations was met with a truth spell which had been allowed by the Wizengamot. Seeing how the policy of Dumbledore to try and turn students away from the dark by turning a blind eye on bullying a lot of times had been a major part of the problem and had led to dark supporters thinking they could get away with torture and murder the new policy was stricter and the teachers investigated all accusations thoroughly.

Of course those making false accusations got punished as well so the system wouldn't be abused. Also, at the beginning of the year the heads of houses had gone into the common rooms and taken two hours to explain the rules to all students, new and old alike. For many they had been a surprise in some cases. Who thought after all that there should have been a prefect council that had the power to deny a student privileges like Hogsmeade visits or being on a Quidditch team if the student was found out to bully other students? Most of the prefects didn't know that part. The only thing that needed to happen was that more than half of the prefects needed to agree to give out that punishment. The only way to stop that was that two heads of houses ruled against the decision.

Astoria hoped that her mother wouldn't do something stupid in this situation. She knew how Daphne was. For all her faults she was smart and would have planned how to make the situation work for her and the child the best way she could. After all, you knew that you were pregnant at most a month after it happened. Normally earlier because your period didn't come and you would take a test to see if you were pregnant. And all witches were taught that spell when they turned fourteen by the Hogwarts school nurse. The question was what Daphne had done and how much gold she had been able to get from the vault before she couldn't access it anymore.

Not to mention what Potter would do now. From the article he would be a major part in the life of the children. And right now she had to keep her head down and not attract negative attention. She was smart enough to know that without NEWTs she wouldn't get any proper job and right now it looked as if she would need one. She was trapped in a marriage contract with Draco Malfoy as the criminal clause had been taken out and an exception of crimes done in the name of the Dark Lord had been put inside. But with Draco being a convicted Death Eater, even if forced, he wouldn't be able to get one of the high-paying jobs in their world and it was absolutely unthinkable that he would wield the same political power that his father had had. The Malfoy fortune would be smaller than expected but normally enough should be left that they could live without having to worry about poverty.

No, the one thing that would be held against Daphne was if she proved to be a bad mother. People would turn against her and demand that Potter raised the children on his own with the help of some light families, probably even trying to place one of their daughters by his side. The only thing was to wait and plan for a slip up.

* * *

Ron Weasley was having a really bad time. Not only had Harry become father of twins from that slimy snake, he also had the gall to make Neville of all people godfather of his daughter. He, Ron Weasley, was Harry's best friend and should have got that honour. Why should it matter that he hadn't gone to the hospital at that unholy time in the middle of the night just because the slimy snake couldn't wait to have the children at a normal hour? Harry had taken it badly that Ron hadn't come to congratulate until a week after the birth and had stated that he wouldn't change their decision about the godparents. Had Ron been there when the twins were born like any best friend should have been Harry might have asked him if he was honest in wanting to stand by Harry in this.

It was such an injustice. Right now the press was only interested in reporting about the children and their parents and not in his story of how he was a major factor in the defeat of You-Know-Who. Not that Harry the prat gave any interviews. He had only given Loony that interview for the Quibbler and after that all reporters ran into a wall of Harry refusing to answer questions the few times they caught him in public. He had got a massive tongue lashing from his mother about how he was being stupid and that he should get his priorities straight because he wouldn't get a proper job if he didn't finally study to take his NEWTs. As if they couldn't wait some more time. Surely once the Ministry noticed how badly they needed good aurors he would still be allowed in without the public knowing.

Kingsley was just trying to look proper right now. After all, he had played a huge role in the defeat of You-Know-Who and even destroyed a horcrux. That should count for something. And the hype about Harry's twins would also blow over. And then the people would see what a bad decision it was to allow a slimy snake like Greengrass be with Harry and raise his children. Harry would also realise that and things would be back to how they were before.

Having come to that conclusion Ron decided that he was hungry and went down to the kitchen to see if his mother had left some food that he could eat right now.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall happily read her complimentary copy of the Quibbler about the sudden paternity of one of her favourite students. To think that Harry Potter now had twins. Beltane twins at that. She wouldn't have thought that Harry of all people would go to a Beltane celebration but she also knew that the young man had been burdened too much in his life and that a lot of the blame was to be put at the shoulders of the teachers at Hogwarts. They hadn't been able to protect him properly and often had outright failed their jobs. In hindsight, after a lot of discussions with her colleagues, she realised that she should have kept Albus in line more than she did.

Sure, he was her superior and he was the one that had the only viable plan how to destroy You-Know-Who, but his plan had nearly destroyed an innocent child. She could only just start to see how the wizarding world had failed to stand up for their freedom. A small group had been the reason why the dark movement hadn't fully won. They had only been able to mitigate the symptoms for the students at Hogwarts slightly. Still, they had suffered. And none more than Harry Potter thanks to them having to play political games all the time.

In first year the dratted stone should not have been brought to Hogwarts for protection. Albus should have found another location that only he knew of and placed it there, perhaps using a fidelius charm. But he had wanted to bait the thief and find out who was after the stone. It had nearly cost Harry's life because she hadn't listened to him and his friends when they had warned her about the stone being in danger. She really regretted that. Then when the basilisk, she shuddered just thinking about it, had been let loose by the possessed Ginny Weasley they couldn't do anything again. Lucius Malfoy had played his political games and got Hagrid arrested and Albus suspended by blackmailing the school governors.

In third year Fudge, the worst Minister ever, placed dementors of all things around the school. Those things had come as close to killing Harry three times as You-Know-Who himself. And to think that the poor boy had to relive the murder of his parents whenever he was close to them. And why all that? Because the ministry couldn't do their jobs properly and arrest the right person. She had been devastated to find out that Sirius had been innocent. To think he had spent twelve years in hell on earth just because nobody gave him a proper trial or even questioned him when he wasn't in shock. But no, the ministry couldn't be wrong, so Sirius never got to clear his name while he was still alive.

Then the disaster of the Tournament where Harry was again used as bait by Albus. The poor boy didn't get any breaks. She had to admit she didn't support him as she should have done in the situation. She had been too shocked about the whole situation and believed that Albus had it under control. But Harry had been ostracized by the whole school again. Only now she understood how much mental damage each new blow did on him. Fifth year was the worst one while Harry was at school with how the Ministry tied their hands and Umbridge was allowed to run wild. Albus should have reined her in more. To think that she used blood-quills on students. It was a scandal and the Ministry didn't even have the decency to fire her for that blatant bit of torturing children, no she kept her job and when You-Know-Who returned she even got more power to live out her crazy beliefs.

It was a wonder that Harry was as stable as he was now. She knew from Andromeda that she had helped him find a therapist and that being around Teddy really did Harry a world of good. Now he was a father himself and she was sure that he would love his children more than anything else. While she would never have thought it possible that he might get together with Daphne Greengrass, among the witches from Slytherin she was probably the one that would suit him and help him out. The girl was smart and knew the political game. She didn't get her reputation in Slytherin for nothing and she had always managed to not become a target for any side. From what McGonagall knew of Harry he would try to make a relationship work as he would never want to leave his children alone. He craved a family, that much was absolutely clear.

If only Albus hadn't been so stubborn to leave Harry with the Dursleys and if only the wards could have been set up in another place. Harry would at least have had a normal childhood. But with them even that had been denied to him. She had listened to Hagrid rambling one evening after the battle of Hogwarts when he was drunk how he had rescued Harry from a rock in the sea to give Harry his school letter. In hindsight they should have seen the signs of an abused child. Now they could only pray that Harry wouldn't suffer for their mistakes. But probably having a family of his own would achieve that part much better than anything they could have done now that everything was over.

* * *

Eric Valoris watched gleefully how enraged his aunt was. She was currently complaining with his mother what a slag Daphne was. Really, she was stupid. Nobody would support her against the parents of Beltane twins. Especially not if the father was Harry Potter. He hadn't told his parents that he was Caspian's godfather yet. Nor had he told them that he shared that honour with a muggleborn witch. It was too entertaining to see how Stella made a fool out of herself. His mother tried placating Stella and tried to make her see that there was nothing that could be done if she didn't want to have the whole public against her.

While Eric knew that his parents were supporting the rule of purebloods, they weren't supporting the idea of killing and torturing people. His father had been interrogated but had come out declared innocent of supporting You-Know-Who. He had to make sure that none of their business investments stayed with slightly dark aligned products but that was thankfully quite easy. The Valoris had never been a dark family, you could call them grey. Eric didn't believe in some of the ideals that strictly light families supported but he was capable of blending in with the masses to not stand out negatively.

In his eyes this was a great opportunity. He hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw for nothing. He knew that Daphne would never be stupid enough to be seen as a bad mother. Perhaps an inexperienced one which she would do her best to rectify as soon as possible. It was obvious that the public would love the twins to bits just because Harry was their father. The smart thing to do was helping the young parents when they needed help and simply show that some of Daphne's family supported her. It would be stupid to say anything negative about Daphne and the babies. Stella would be branded as a heartless woman soon enough. The article in the Quibbler was making sure of that. But nobody ever said that Stella had a brain.

* * *

Harry sat at Grimmauld Place, trying to hide his disappointment about Daphne's decision to stay at her flat with the twins for now. He had offered her to move in with him so that they could both take care of the children. She had politely refused the offer based on her wish to first be sure that they would work out before she moved in with him. On some level he could understand it but then again he wanted to be there for his babies all the time. They had set up a schedule around his auror training so that he could get as much time as possible with the children and Daphne but he simply wanted more.

He couldn't help himself to want to be close to them. He had completely lost his heart to the two little ones. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. They were a part of him and he didn't feel right leaving them alone in the flat with Daphne. He wanted to protect them. And he wanted to protect Daphne. It was strange, while he knew that he was physically attracted to Daphne, he clearly remembered how sexy she had been on Beltane, he also liked spending time in her company. He hoped that they would work out, not only for the children. Daphne was different to all girls he had got to know over the years. While she was smart she didn't show it off like Hermione often did. While she could have a temper it was nowhere near as explosive as Ginny's, Daphne normally could make him feel bad about doing something stupid with just a look and a raised eyebrow. And when she told him off that one time that he had suggested teaching the children flying as soon as they were old enough to sit on a broom without falling off he had felt like a misbehaving school boy. Her dark hair had been tied up in a ponytail as it was easier for her at the moment than having to take care of her long hair all the time and her heart-shaped face had been red in anger even if her voice had been deceptively low.

Luna with her dreamy personality was again completely different and don't get him started on the disaster that was his short-lived relationship with Cho who hadn't been anywhere near Daphne's level. The chaser girls of the Gryffindor team were like older sisters for him and normally teased him a lot which while Daphne liked to do that as well was on another level entirely. In short, Harry was fascinated by Daphne's personality and wanted to find out more.

* * *

Daphne sat watching over the twins while thinking how cute Harry had looked pouting about her not wanting to move in with him yet. She had to admit, it was a tempting offer but she needed the safety of their relationship working out and not only holding because of the children. Sure, as soon as her figure returned in a few months he would also be attracted to that again, but she needed more to make that next-to-last step. The last one would be marrying Harry if they got that far. She was sure she would manage until she was sure enough. After all, she had made plans before all of this to take care of her child alone. How much harder would it be to do the same for two children?

* * *

**Okay, that were lots of different perspectives, the action in the story will be taken up next chapter again. Till then.**


	9. Joys of Being a Parent

**Hi, this is the next chapter. Thanks for all your reviews. I try my best with my stories.**

* * *

**Joys of Being a Parent**

Harry looked confused as hell at the small, smelly bundle that was his daughter. She was crying heartbreakingly and he really wanted to change her diaper but the damned thing didn't get off. How the hell had Daphne fixed it that he couldn't get it off? Normally he would have used his wand to vanish the diaper but he had been strictly forbidden by Andy and Molly to use magic on anything that was in contact with the babies closely until they were at least two months old. Something about their magic first having to settle before they could be exposed to foreign magical energy of an active kind.

The inborn magic of him and Daphne was something else; that was soothing for the children as they instinctively recognised their parents by it. Harry was close to panicking when Andy had mercy with him and showed him how to undo the diaper and get rid of it. He was glad to find out that he was allowed to vanish the diaper when it wasn't in contact with the baby anymore. The smell was horrible. Being a new father without having time to properly prepare how to care for a baby was really difficult Harry had quickly realised. And that was with not living in the same house as the babies. How the hell did Daphne manage when she was alone with the two? Andy assured him that he was doing quite well and would learn how to do the things that were needed to care for his children soon enough.

The twins were two weeks old now and their daily activities consisted of sleeping, crying when they were hungry or needed a fresh diaper and some time when they got a bath. But mostly sleeping. That was normal as well Harry learned. Babies needed lots of sleep. The older they were they more active they would become but with only a few weeks that would take time. Still, Andy encouraged Harry to stimulate the brains of the twins with simple things like soft music, a mobile and talking to them when they were awake. The first lesson Harry had got when he had come to see his godson had been how to hold him and feed him with a bottle. Thankfully Andy had taken care of changing his diapers and giving him baths when he had been very small as Harry had been terrified to hurt Teddy.

Now though he wanted to share all duties to the twins with Daphne and that led to him being confused about evil things like complicated diapers. He had also been fascinated with the concept of bathing a baby in a bucket or later in a bowl normally used for carrying laundry. Andy had simply pointed out that it was much easier to keep control over the baby's body with such small basins instead of using the big tub.

Now that the diaper was gone Harry was left to clean his daughter's butt with soft tissues and use some baby-powder and cream to make sure that it wouldn't become sore under Andy's watchful eyes. Once he had done that to her standards he was instructed how to put a fresh diaper on, which was nearly as complicated as getting it off. He guessed practice made perfect in this regard. Once Rhapsody was done she was much happier and he put her clothes back on. He looked over to the second changing table where Daphne had already finished with Caspian and was tickling his belly which made him laugh.

Harry couldn't help but smile. These simple moments with Daphne and the twins were something he massively cherished. He was also glad that he had two experienced mothers as backup to teach him what he needed to know to be a good father. Without Andy and Molly he would have been totally lost.

* * *

Harry was pushing the pram forward while Daphne walked next to him. It was their second attempt to take a walk with the twins. The first one had been to Diagon Alley which in hindsight had been a big mistake. They had thought that they could do some basic shopping while taking the twins with them but they had massively underestimated the stupidity of witches and wizards. Not only had they been mobbed the moment they had entered the Leaky Cauldron from the muggle side as the floo and apparating were not an option as the babies wouldn't take it well. They had come from a check-up appointment with healer Cobalt at St. Mungo's for Daphne and the babies. Everything had been alright and they had thought that they could quickly stock up on parchment and quills as well as some potion ingredients for Harry.

But after getting congratulations and having people stare at the babies for ten minutes without being able to get through the pub Harry had had to resort to being a physical barrier so that Daphne could get away with the babies back into muggle London. They had tried being polite and open but when the babies had been woken up thanks to the noise the well-wishers were making and had started crying they both knew that it was time to get out quickly. Harry had managed to placate the people by telling that the twins weren't used to crowds and strangers in general and that they were overwhelmed with them all coming at them. It had made some people look ashamed of their behaviour but some had been unrelenting.

Harry had come back to get the things they needed later in the day, apparating directly into the Alley, bypassing the pub and both Harry and Daphne had decided to not take the children until they were older. So to get some fresh air they had chosen one of the parks in London close to Daphne's flat for a walk. It was still fairly cold and they were dressed in warm cloaks. The babies slept under a warm blanket in the pram. They noticed that a lot of people looked at them, some smiling, but they didn't bother them. To them they were a young couple taking a walk with their babies. They met one other mother with a pram and she and Daphne talked a bit about how old their babies were, how they were learning so much all the time and the fathers of the children. Harry felt slightly out of place. The talk didn't take long and the two continued on.

What they didn't know was how the other visitors of the park that were there regularly started gossiping about them. After all, they both were just eighteen and that was very young to become parents for the muggle world. Not to mention that everybody could see that both were good-looking and by their clothes they could tell that they didn't lack money. Unknown to them a photographer that was doing an article about the parks in London took some pictures of them standing at the small lake in the park with Harry feeding some ducks with remainders of his bun. The reportage would be about the regular guests in the parks and their activities there and what needed to be done in some parks to make them more attractive for families all year round and so on.

Coincidentally the magazine for which the photographer worked was one that Petunia Dursley had a subscription for. When she saw her nephew looking like the upper class of England with a very beautiful woman and a pram in one of London's parks she feared what the neighbours would say when they saw the picture. And they would, after all, the magazine was one of the most popular among housewives. Of course it wouldn't be a surprise that he already had a child, he was irresponsible enough for that, but the story about his parents being an unemployed slacker and a good-for-nothing whore would be hard to maintain.

* * *

Daphne was tired, really tired. The babies had woken up twice during the night and had needed changing and feeding. While she had followed Harry's advice to store some prepared milk bottles in the cold cupboard and only warm them with a charm to save time and get more sleep with two of them she only got about three hours of sleep most nights. She couldn't go on like this. During the days Harry was here and a great help, but the nights took too much out of her. She just didn't know what to do.

She heard the floo activate and blearily looked at the green flames. Harry had come again.

"Good morning, Daphne." Harry greeted warmly.

"M'ning Harry." She mumbled.

"You sound tired, did something happen last night?" He asked concerned.

"Just the same as the nights before. They woke up, cried, needed feeding and changing and then I had to get them to fall asleep again. And as if I finish one the other starts I didn't get more than three hours of sleep. I'm dead tired." She whined.

"I see. You can't continue doing all of this alone at night. You will get sick." Harry stated concerned.

"And what should I do? I can after all hardly call one of the Greengrass house elves. They would be obliged to tell Stella what we are doing and she could use that against us. She would do anything to get better standing again and us not being perfect parents would give her ammunition." Daphne snapped.

"No, but you can move in with me like I offered before. We don't need to share a room, but if we are in the same house I can take over at least one time during the night so that you can get perhaps five to six hours of sleep. And while Kreacher is old he would gladly help as well." Harry patiently pointed out.

Daphne had refused to move in with Harry for two months now but her resistance was wearing thin. She knew that she needed help and couldn't go on like this. Her plans had only included one baby, not two. But Harry had just been accepted by the aurors for training and he needed his sleep. He already arranged his schedule that he was here as much as he could. She couldn't ask more of him.

"Don't think that you would be a burden for me. I want to help with the children. Nothing is making me do this, it's my decision. I want to be there for the important developments in their lives. And Grimmauld Place is more than big enough for all of us." Harry tried to convince her.

The babies were two and a half months old now and sadly they weren't sleeping through the nights. Daphne still wanted to be sure that things would work out with Harry but right now she knew she had to get over her fear. She was simply physically unable to keep doing things this way.

"Oh, alright, let's give it a trial run. I will come over for a week and if it's a major improvement I will stay and rent out this flat." Daphne finally caved in.

Harry nodded smiling and went to the nursery to look after the children and then pack things for them which they would need at his house. Once he was done he called Kreacher to take the luggage to Grimmauld Place. The old elf did so immediately and Harry placed his son and daughter into a carrier each and made sure they were both warm. In the short course for baby care that he had done under Molly and Andy he had learned that no matter if he thought that it was warm outside, a baby was more sensitive and needed to have it warm all the time. Next to that Molly had somehow found some dummies for him to train changing nappies and testing the temperature of milk in baby bottles. It was only the beginning though. Bathing a baby was more difficult than Harry had imagined. You needed to make sure that you always supported the head and didn't leave it in the water for too long.

He lifted both carriers from the ground and went back to Daphne. She really looked tired and he would make sure that she lay down for a few hours once they were at Grimmauld Place. He had a room prepared for her and a nursery for the children just in case they were needed. Now he was glad that he had done so. As travelling with the babies through the floo wasn't a good idea because of the constant spinning and apparition putting too much stress onto their bodies the one remaining solution was going by car or, if you were progressive, accept that a house elf apparated you as their apparition didn't have the pressure factor. You only apparated with a child under two years if it was a life or death matter.

Harry had planned to go by car and that meant calling a taxi. Thankfully Daphne wasn't one of those purebloods that were completely lost in the muggle world. Taking a taxi was therefore no problem for her. They left the flat after locking it down for the week and called a taxi. Harry put the two carriers onto the backseat and Daphne sat down next to them while Harry took the front seat and gave the driver the address. Of course he didn't tell the number, only the street. The ride wasn't long. Only ten minutes later they arrived at Grimmauld Place and Harry paid the driver. As Daphne had been here before it was not trouble to enter the house unnoticed by any neighbours.

Harry once they were inside led Daphne to a bedroom which was tastefully decorated in purple and blue with white walls.

"I think you should go to sleep for a few hours. I will take care of Caspian and Rhapsody. I only need to be at the Academy at two this afternoon today, so you have five hours that you can sleep. I will tell Kreacher to answer your calls and assist you with the babies. The nursery is in the room next door and my bedroom is at the other side of the nursery. Bathrooms are on either end of the corridor." Harry said gently.

"Thanks, Harry, I think that is a good idea." She said relieved and went over to the very comfortable looking bed.

* * *

Two months after Daphne had moved in at Grimmauld Place she was still there. The twins were a real handful but together she and Harry managed to organise raising them pretty well. And living with Harry was nicer than she had imagined it could be. He was smart, a good listener, had lots of unbelievable stories to tell her and he was simply there when she needed him. Not to mention he was easy on the eyes. She had nearly managed to get her former weight back and he encouraged her without adding pressure. That was something unknown to her. She had been taught that a pureblood woman needed to always look her best and a pregnancy shouldn't destroy your looks. There were potions that quickly helped you regain your looks but you couldn't breastfeed your babies if you took them. Daphne had decided against them after Harry had assured her that it didn't matter to him if she needed more time to get her old looks back. She had brought two beautiful children into the world. There was no reason to be ashamed, she should be proud of herself.

It was so different to how she had grown up. Harry was easy-going but still knew how to present himself in public. He had lots of friends from all houses, except Slytherin, that regularly came for a visit. And they simply accepted her into their midst because she lived here with Harry and was the mother of his children. There had been changes in the relationships of some. Hermione had broken up with Ron after he had been completely unreasonable about her being godmother to Caspian. Hermione loved her godson and her honorary niece and was over regularly and a very willing babysitter when Harry convinced her (Daphne) that they should spend an evening away. It had been strange to go out with Harry but it had been really nice. She had never believed that muggles could be that great in providing entertainment for an evening, but she had learned better. The cinema had been really interesting and the pub where they had eaten afterwards had served good food.

It had been nice to relax for a few hours again without the twins possibly demanding her attention suddenly. Harry really did his best to make their relationship work. And she had kissed him pretty long after they had returned from their evening out. He didn't look at all as if he had minded that. The goofy grin on his face after the kiss had been a good clue. They hadn't gone farther than cuddling on the couch, hugs in the morning or evening and soft kisses but it felt as if they were progressing.

On the official side of Harry's responsibilities as a father he had set up two well-filled trust vaults, one for each twin, and he had taken care of registering both children as his heirs. It was a massive step. Normally Harry could have waited until they had decided where their relationship led them. With just acknowledging Caspian and Rhapsody he had made sure that the twins would never be seen as bastards. Most other wizards, at least the pureblood ones that she had grown up around, would have left things at that. Harry didn't and he had also set up a trust vault for his godson Teddy Lupin. The little metamorphmagus was over quite a lot and was really excited to see his younger cousins as Harry dubbed them regularly. While Teddy was ten months older than Caspian and Rhapsody he liked being around them a lot. And once they were older they would be able to play together.

Harry's auror training was going well and he was happy at the academy. He had managed to get his trainers to treat him like any other cadet and his fellow cadets also didn't treat him any different. Perhaps because a lot of them were from his DA group. She knew of Susan Bones who wanted to follow in her aunt's footsteps, Dean Thomas and Earnie Macmillan. They all had taken the three months' intensive course for their NEWTs and were now in the first year of the academy. There were some others that had gone to school with them, some older than them, some their age, but they hadn't been part of the DA. She liked hearing how Harry had taught the group DADA. She wished she had had somebody to properly teach her how to defend herself. Umbridge had been horrible and had cost her the chance to continue DADA on NEWT level. Snape had requested an E for his NEWT class and she only had barely scrapped an A.

Harry had already offered to teach her some basics that were important and would come in handy no matter if she ever had to face dark wizards. Shield charms could also be used against rowdy patients he had said grinning and she had had to laugh about that. She laughed a lot more nowadays. But it was so easy to do so in Harry's presence.

* * *

Molly Weasley and Andromeda Tonks sat in Andromeda's living room watching three babies crawl around. While Teddy could walk he liked crawling around more when Caspian and Rhapsody were visiting.

"They are so cute." Molly gushed.

"Yes, they really are. I was surprised how fast Harry got into being a father though. And I can tell that hundreds of young witches are jealous of Daphne with how he treats her. I don't think that it will be long before they get serious about their relationship. They are good together." Andy commented.

"I know. For a long time I have wished that Harry would come to love Ginny and marry her. I have seen him as a seventh son for a while. I simply can't understand why she would push him as she did. While I have overreacted when I heard about Harry breaking up with Ginny from her letters, after I had time to cool down and think about it I felt bad that I only blamed him. I mean, why would she suddenly be all about social prestige? She had to know how Harry hated being stared at." Molly sighed. "And that when he was busy helping the Ministry cleaning up the mess with the Death Eater trials after the war. Or then when he reasonably decided to finish his education. I so wish that Ron had done that too."

"I know, he was really distraught that a girl he thought he loved would do something like that to him. He wrote me some letters as he didn't have others he could talk to anymore outside of school. Well, those who weren't too closely connected to Ginny." Andy said. "I tried to comfort him, but she really hurt him. Thank Merlin that at least Ginny has now realised that she was in the wrong. Ron is still being stupid about Harry having children with a former Slytherin and not naming him godfather. As if everybody in the house has been evil." She scoffed.

"I know. While I am always cautious with former Slytherins I know that you can't think that they were all evil. I know too many exceptions of that. You, Mad-Eye, Dorcas. Then those that appeared evil but were more or less forced into their actions like Draco Malfoy. If the boy had grown up with other parents he would probably not have become as caught up in prejudices as he was." Molly admitted.

"I know. I don't like how my sister raised my nephew. But that is the problem with the whole pureblood supremacy nonsense that many dark families taught their children from a young age. My cousin Regulus is a perfect example. He was a good kid but to please his parents he signed up with the Death Eaters. Just to find out what horrors they committed and trying to help kill Voldemort." Molly shivered hearing the name.

"I'm just glad that this time the Ministry really cleaned their mess up. All Death Eaters were put on trial with veritaserum and therefore those acting under duress got lesser verdicts than those that willingly followed You-Know-Who. The important part is that they still were all punished according to the law. Knowing that Lucius Malfoy will never get out of Azkaban again is very comforting." Molly said. "And to see that a new generation will grow up without fearing the dark forces."

Andy could only nod. She looked at the three babies. Teddy liked changing the colours of his hair to whatever currently caught his fancy and the other two always giggled when he did. Caspian had clearly inherited the Potter hair. His short black locks stood up all over the place much to Daphne's consternation. Rhapsody while also having dark hair had smooth hair. Caspian had the blue eyes of his mother and Rhapsody the green ones of her father. More couldn't be said so far as the babies were too young to really resemble any of their parents.

* * *

Stella Greengrass was mad. She had been ridiculed by lots of people in the past nine months since those blasted twins had been born. Not enough that Daphne had shamed the Greengrass family by getting pregnant from an unknown man while she had been betrothed to another, no it had to be Harry bloody Potter who was the father. Sure, everybody said it was different because the twins were conceived at Beltane, but it was still a stain on the Greengrass name. She had used the opportunity to get rid of the unwanted girl only to find out that the brat had taken precautions to ensure that she and the child would get through without having to want for anything. The blasted girl was a thief, but she couldn't demand the gold that was taken back as at the time she took it Daphne had had full access to the family vault as an of age member of the Greengrass family, not to mention the recognised heiress.

There was no limit for withdrawing galleons as with Stella's parties that she regularly hosted during the past years there had always been larger amounts of gold that needed to be paid for the catering, the interior decorators and so on. But neither she nor Cyrus had thought that any of the girls could get the idea to take as large amounts as Daphne did. They had both thought that the most any of them would be able to take were a hundred galleons or so. After all, more didn't fit into the standard money pouches that came with the vault. Any others were expensive to buy. But seemingly the little brat had done exactly that. And neither of them had noticed.

She had known that with Cyrus in Azkaban the family would lose a lot of gold to pay reparations for his crimes against magical Britain. At least that was what the Wizengamot had called it. But they would have been able to deal with it with the remaining fortune. But the statements that she had finally gone through told her that after Cyrus' imprisonment Daphne had withdrawn twenty thousand galleons in two months, more than half of what was left in the vault after all fines were paid. Now she and Astoria couldn't simply live the lifestyle that they deserved and their former allies told her that they didn't want to alienate Harry Potter. That was political and social suicide. The last statement of their vault said that there were about fifteen thousand galleons left. She needed at least two hundred each month to keep up her lifestyle. And working was out of the question for a pureblood woman of her station. The Greengrass business wasn't doing well after the war as most was of the darker kind.

Three enterprises had already been closed down by the Ministry. Nobody would have dared that under any government in the past. But no, those blasted Potter worshippers said that anything that furthered dark purposes wouldn't be tolerated in their society anymore. And the aurors were thorough. So instead of six enterprises bringing in gold every month they only had three left. And one was currently investigated. The only ones that were safe were the farm for potion ingredients of any kind and the crystal mine. But the mine wasn't bringing in as much profit as in the past as it was hard to find willing workers. That pest Granger had pushed a bill for more rights for house elves of all things through and now they couldn't put the blighters into the mines all day round anymore. And other workers were expensive which cut into the profit the mine brought. No, the only viable solution would be getting more house elves but they were expensive and the trade with them was stricter controlled than before. They simply couldn't afford to buy more for the mine.

She didn't know a lot about managing business but she knew that a reduction of profit from five thousand galleons a year to five hundred was really bad. And to top it all right now Daphne's son was in a better position to inherit what remained of the Greengrass fortune and get the title than any children Astoria might have. Not to mention that with ninety per cent of all of their former allies at Azkaban and the remainder keeping their heads down there was no way to get that brat out of the way. The only way to get into a better position again would be if Astoria married into a rich family. But the contract with Draco Malfoy didn't offer an easy way out. They had set it up so that a possible imprisonment of any side wouldn't result in automatic dissolving of the contract. Now that was a major downside. At least Draco would be out of prison when Astoria finished at Hogwarts. Thankfully it was only for another two years. With the shrunken funds more would be a real problem for them to pay.

* * *

Harry lay in his bed, thinking about the fantastic day he had spent with Daphne. The twins had slept over at Andromeda's with Luna also staying there as she was working on an article where she wanted Andy's input. They had first gone on a boat trip on the Thames, followed by a picnic which Harry had prepared in Hyde Park. In the afternoon Daphne wanted to see a muggle zoo so they had gone to the one in London. Harry found out that he still could speak parseltongue by listening to the snakes in the reptile house. A romantic dinner with life music in the popular wizarding restaurant 'Golden Dragon' had rounded everything up. They had simply walked around a wizarding park which was warded against muggles in the dark, talking about their lives and how in three months Daphne planned to start her healer training. The twins would be a year old then and healer school only took place in the mornings.

Andy had already said that she would take the twins for those hours. Harry was happy that his small family was doing so well. He would never have thought that he could develop such strong feelings for a Slytherin. But Daphne perfectly added to his own personality. She was cunning and ambitious but she didn't try to improve her own station purely on the backs of others. She also could have done a lot more to harm her step-mother's position but she only let her stew. That hurt more than anything else because Stella was clearly waiting for anything she could use to make Daphne look petty. Harry knew that the remaining Greengrass fortune was rapidly shrinking with Stella spending a lot more than she earned and Astoria not knowing the meaning of the word frugal. From what he had heard from Luna Astoria had spent a lot of money on each of the Hogsmeade weekends last year.

Daphne was happy taking care of their children and furthering their relationship. And to be honest, he wanted to take the next step. He was falling hard for her and he knew it. She was beautiful, kind, witty, sometimes harsh when she saw something as necessary but never cruel. Her sense of humour was sharp but good and she really tried to fit in with his friends without losing herself and trying to be somebody she wasn't. Her few friends were also quite nice. Tracy was easier to get along with than Stephen but he was okay. Eric, the only part of the Greengrasses that they were on speaking terms with, was great and very helpful with getting certain kinds of information.

He heard his room's door open slowly and he turned around to see who it was. To his surprise it was Daphne in a very revealing nightgown.

"Daphne?" He asked unable to look away, not that he wanted to.

"Hey Harry, can I sleep here tonight?" She asked.

"Uh, sure." He said. "Are you sure you want this?"

"I am. I have thought long about this and I want you." She said seductively while walking over to his bed slowly.

He had to admit she looked damn sexy. He lifted the covers of his bed and she slipped in to cuddle up with him, stroking his bare chest. Harry had found that he slept better with a bare upper body. He put his arms around her and let them wander up and down her back. He really wanted her. Then she started kissing him and he let any restraint that he had had before go. He kissed back passionately and started exploring her body with his hands. He slipped under her nightgown and caressed her breasts, her now again flat stomach and her butt.

She reciprocated his ministrations and got more adventurous the longer their actions went on. Soon their night clothes were discarded and they were kissing the other's body with the intention to drive the other crazy with lust. Daphne was just glad that this time her potion would work. It was too early to have more children.

* * *

**Okay, things are pregressing. Till next time.**


	10. Union

**And the long-awaited chapter about the wedding! Yes, he proposed! Happy reading.**

* * *

**Union**

Daphne sat in front of a big mirror watching as the hairdresser styled her long dark locks into a stylish knot with some locks framing her face. She had known that getting her hair done for a wedding took a lot of time, but two hours she hadn't calculated. And she also hadn't thought that she would marry her fiancé on Beltane of all days. Harry thought it was the perfect date for their wedding considering that Beltane two years ago had started everything off.

The twins were very agile now and loved running around with Teddy, playing around and driving their parents crazy with how fast they were on those short legs. At the moment Hermione and Neville were looking after them. Tracy was getting ready herself as she was Daphne's maid of honour and Eric would be leading her to Harry and the official that would marry them. Harry's best man would be Neville but he didn't need too much time to get ready. Things hadn't improved between Harry and Ron and when Harry had announced their marriage to the Weasleys Ron had thrown a fit and accused Harry of going dark of all things. He was really narrow-minded.

* * *

_Flashback_

Harry had been convinced by Daphne to go on and tell the Weasleys about their happy news. It was the day after Christmas and she had told him that as she already had promised to visit Tracy with the babies this afternoon that it would be perfect to inform his friends and surrogate family of their upcoming marriage. Yesterday he had finally taken all his courage and asked Daphne to marry him. They had been intensifying their relationship ever since that night in October when the Daphne had come to his room the first time. He loved her with all of his heart and he knew that there was no other woman he wanted to be by his side for the rest of his life. What did it matter that they had only lived together since April? They had grown very close in those months and his deepest wish was to have a real family. So with how he was completely sure that he had found the right woman this time why should he have waited? His happiness couldn't be described when Daphne had said yes.

Now he stood outside of the Burrow wanting to share his happiness with the Weasleys. He knocked at the door and Molly opened.

"Harry dear, come in. Did you and Daphne have a nice Christmas?" She asked.

"Yes, thank you, Molly, we had. Though I'm really glad that we didn't set real candles up. Cas and Sody are really agile now and it won't be long until they will be able to run around everywhere. Right now they hold onto everything in their attempts to walk around and we had to place featherlight charms on all things that they could pull down to make sure they don't get hurt in case something falls on them. Not to mention that putting something out of reach doesn't help any." Harry chuckled.

"Accidental wish magic?" Molly asked knowingly.

"Yeah. Sody has a knack for getting the things she wants to float to her and Cas I think has learned opening the doors of cupboards and rooms where we put things away. One second you don't pay attention and the next they hold the things you just took away. Daphne is already suggesting we should put up some low-level wards to protect our furniture and doors from accidental magic. I never expected magical children to have this much power already. I mean they are just eleven months old." Harry exclaimed.

"Well, let me tell you, that happens all the time. Arthur and I had to make sure that none of the boys could escape from their rooms when we put them there for naps or when they needed a time out because especially Bill could get out of any room by the time he was two. He was incredibly curious and we had to keep a close eye on him, which wasn't that easy as Charlie was an infant then. Arthur became really good with setting household wards and child protection spells up all over the house. And the only way to keep Charlie happy when I needed time to look after Percy after he was just born was to put his two favourite dragon plushies into the playpen. Bill needed something to challenge his mind to not act out." Molly told him.

"I can imagine." Harry said grinning. "Are the others here too?"

"Yes. Arthur only has to return to work in January; George is discussing a new working schedule with Ginny now that she has her training times from the Harpies. I'm really glad that she isn't just concentrating on her Quidditch career but also studying more advanced magic and how to lead a business under George. If only Ron wouldn't laze around so much. He will fall horribly once people won't be interested in constant interviews anymore." Molly really worried about her youngest son. "I wish I could convince him to at least study for his NEWTs at home. I have given up that he will ever go to Hogwarts to finish his last year there but no employer will give him a proper job if he can't at least show a few NEWTs."

"I know. Hermione and I tried to convince him to come with us when we went back to Hogwarts for those three months and again once we had passed the NEWTs and he had to realise that Kingsley wouldn't hire him without the five NEWTs they ask for at the auror office. But he is too stubborn. We can't force him but I'm sad that he takes it badly that Hermione and I are successful in our chosen jobs and he isn't." Harry replied. "But I have good news that I wanted to announce. Where are the others?"

"In the living room." Molly answered and showed him in.

"Hey everybody." Harry greeted smiling which was returned by most Weasleys. Ron was scowling but didn't say anything negative.

"Hey Harry." George greeted. "How are you and how are the kids and Daphne?"

"Great in all cases. Daphne took Cas and Sody to visit Tracy. They had planned the date for two weeks already so she couldn't come today. I have great news to announce." Harry stated.

Sixteen Weasley eyes looked at Harry. Bill and Fleur were present as well as Percy, George, Ron, Ginny, Arthur and Molly.

"Yesterday I asked Daphne to marry me and she said yes." Harry declared happily.

While most of the Weasleys congratulated Harry and wished him the best for his upcoming marriage, with Molly offering to help with the organisation, Ron was looking angry.

"So you now decided that not only would you shame Gryffindor house by dating a slimy snake and having bastard children with her, no you just had to propose to her. You traitor." Ron yelled.

The other Weasleys quieted and had horrified looks on their faces.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Ron? Can't you simply be happy that I have found a woman I love and that I have two wonderful children?" Harry yelled back, really angry now.

"Slytherins are all dark witches and wizards. We fought so hard in the war and Fred died in it! How could you get involved with a Slytherin slag? You are clearly turning dark. Otherwise you wouldn't even think of being together with a Slytherin whore like Greengrass." Ron couldn't sprout more rubbish because Harry had enough and decked him with his fist which led to George and Percy trying to hold him back.

"Don't you dare insult my fiancée!" Harry shouted. "I have turned a blind eye to your bigotry long enough, Ron. I don't care anymore that you feel that you are treated unjustly. If you got off your lazy ass and finally took charge of your life you wouldn't have to envy Hermione and me for having good jobs. You could have one yourself. You knew that Kingsley wouldn't take applicants for the auror academy without NEWTs in Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defence and Herbology. The only fucking thing you needed to do was passing them with an A each to get in. How is that too much to ask? I don't care that you feel that I get more fame than I deserve. You have known me for eight years and I never wanted my fame. I have to deal with it as I can't get rid of it but you of all people should know what I went through. And now you can't look past stupid prejudices. If all Slytherins are evil what about Mad-Eye? What about Andy? What about Regulus? Daphne is in no way evil and I won't stand by and let you insult her and accuse me of going dark. I hate the Dark Arts with all my being!"

"So the great Harry Potter had to suffer a bit? Tough. You don't know what it means to always be belittled for being poor. And you didn't lose your brother in the war. What would you know?" He was silenced by a hard slap from Fleur who looked furious.

The look was copied by the others in the room.

"You are detestable. You are no better than a worm. Harry has sacrificed more than anybody so that people like you can live in peace and don't have to worry about Death Eaters visiting their homes in the night and killing their family. You might have played a small part in this but in the darkest times Harry had to face Voldemort alone. Harry sees the Weasleys as his surrogate family and I know for a fact that Fred was like an older brother for him. So in what way doesn't he know losing people he loved?" She laid into Ron.

"Don't ever come under my eyes again, Ron, we are through. Molly, Arthur, I'm sorry. I hoped I could celebrate my happy news with you but I would rather leave right now." Harry said and left the room.

He could hear Molly berating Ron while Percy followed Harry outside.

"Harry, we may never have been close or even on friendly terms but I want to apologise for my brother's uncalled and stupid remarks. I really am happy for you and Daphne and wish you well. I'll see if we can't talk some sense into Ron but I don't know how much success we will have." Percy said.

"I meant what I said, Percy. Ron is dead for me. I have taken his behaviour and jealousy time and again. I also have my limits and when he insults my fiancée and calls her a whore and at the same time accuses me of going dark a line is crossed. I won't forgive him this time. Tell your parents that I don't hold Ron's unacceptable behaviour against your whole family and that except for Ron you will all be invited to the wedding once we set up a date. Goodbye." With that Harry apparated away.

_Flashback end_

* * *

Harry had taken Ron's betrayal, as he saw it, really hard, after all Ron had been his first friend and thanks to his childhood Harry had tried to hold onto him where others would have told him to shove it long ago. The remaining Weasleys had laid into Ron and asked him if he had gone mad. Fact was that now nearly two years after the battle of Hogwarts and Voldemort's fall Ron's star was falling rapidly. Any gold he had earned with his short fame he had already spent and he didn't have the needed qualifications to get a well-paying job. He had had to move in back at the Burrow in February where Molly was constantly laying into him to get off his lazy arse and study to take the NEWTs at the ministry this summer. It wasn't to Ron's liking at all. But Molly didn't have any mercy after Ron's stunt. Rightly so. Daphne had a list of spells she would like to test on the bastard when she saw him next.

On the other hand Harry's star was rising even more. His book 'Darkness Rising – Truth About a System Failing' with the full truth about Voldemort and how he had been allowed to become a dark lord had been a hit with the bookstores. In just the first month after it had been published he had sold more books than Gilderoy Lockhart put together in ten. His book was a worldwide hit and mandatory reading material for all law enforcement officers and all school teachers. The new History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts, after Professor McGonagall had finally asked Professor Binns to retire, had made it part of the curriculum of the fourth-years and the older years if they hadn't read it before. Nobody wanted that history repeated itself. Not after the losses that had been caused by the two wars against Voldemort. Ron was jealous that Harry earned millions of galleons with his books while his interviews were becoming less and less frequent and it was only a question of time once nobody wanted to interview him anymore or wanted his name to advertise their products. Some already didn't as they had heard rumours about the falling out he had had with Harry.

Ginny had graduated last year with good grades and was now working part-time with George at his shop while also training with the Holyhead Harpies as a reserve chaser. She planned to keep this arrangement even if she would move to the first team as George was also helping her increase her knowledge of magic with how he developed new products. She was working on being a partner in his business and Daphne had to admit that Ginny had the right mind for a joke shop. At least she had apologised to Harry after some months of brooding.

Finally the hairdresser was done and Daphne admired the result. Her hair looked really good. Then it was time to get into her dress and let the make-up artist do her work. She wondered if Harry also had to endure this much.

* * *

Harry was ready in his wedding suit. He was a bit nervous but thanks to his children it wasn't too bad. They were very effective in distracting him from his anxiety. Hermione and Neville had brought the two and Teddy to him once he was done with dressing. Hermione had even managed to tame his hair for a few hours with liberal use of potions and charms. She could only guarantee four hours of his hair behaving but that was more than anybody else had ever achieved. Potter hair was simply untameable. And Caspian had inherited the hair. So right now he was entertaining his fifteen months old twins and his two years old godson with coloured bubbles from his wand which he let them chase. The more tired they were the more peaceful the ceremony would be. It also helped him take his mind off from the thought that in less than half an hour he would give his vows to Daphne.

He hadn't thought that they would fall in love like they had but after the first time they had slept with each other when the twins had been nine months old it had happened more and more often until Daphne didn't even go to her room for sleeping and simply went to bed with him. He felt at ease with her and he didn't want to wait for something which he knew was the right thing to do. Therefore he had proposed to her at Christmas and to his immense joy she had said yes. The preparations for the wedding were put into the reliable hands of Andromeda and Molly. The location had been the most difficult to choose as most big places were prepared for the Beltane celebrations later in the day.

Harry didn't want to have the wedding at the Burrow, even if Molly and Arthur had offered, it wouldn't be right. Harry wasn't a Weasley, even if they had taken him in like family lots of times. The final solution had been offered to them by Professor McGonagall. Her family owned an old castle in Scotland where nobody had lived for a hundred years when the family's numbers decreased. Around the castle were several hectares of grounds surrounded by forest and warded against muggles stumbling into the area. While the castle was uninhabited it was perfectly cared for by two house elves that belonged to the McGonagall clan and it could be used for the celebrations. Harry and Daphne had gone there and looked at the castle and decided that it was perfect for their wedding.

As today was beautiful weather the ceremony would be held outside. Molly and Andromeda had taken care of the organisational part for Harry and Daphne who were too busy with him at the auror academy and her at the healer school to do everything themselves. Harry had given the two women a budget of thousand galleons, which both protested was way too much, but he insisted, wanting that his wedding was perfect. The only things Harry and Daphne needed to do were deciding on flowers, colours, the guest list and getting measured for their clothes. The list was longer than Harry liked but there were a lot of people that they wanted to be there. The only Weasley to not get one was Ron. Harry had been serious that they were through.

* * *

Harry stood waiting next to Neville in front of the assembled guests. He was nervous. The children were with Andromeda, Hermione and Molly. The twins had been really tired after playing with him until the ceremony and he suspected that they would fall asleep through it if they weren't already. Teddy was a little more energetic but he would be quiet after having played for that long. Finally the music that announced Daphne's arrival sounded and he looked at the end of the aisle between the rows of chairs. The first one to appear was Tracy in her light blue dress. She walked towards the front and gave Harry a grin and a wink before taking her place opposite of Harry and Neville. Then Harry had to gulp when he saw Daphne and Eric appear. Daphne's long white dress was really beautiful and while leaving her shoulders completely bare was really tasteful. There wasn't too much decoration but he could see some embroidery on the upper part. He couldn't take his eyes off her until Eric handed her over to him and he held out his hands for her to take. Her face was hidden behind a delicate veil but he could see that she was smiling. He couldn't help himself but smile lost in his thoughts.

He didn't really take in a lot of the speech of the official but he was fully there when it was time to give his vows to Daphne and receive hers. He then was allowed to lift her veil and kiss her while the official waved his wand, surrounding them with golden stars that fell down on them.

* * *

The reception was a great party. Molly and Andromeda had really made sure that everything was perfect. Kreacher and the newly employed Polly would take all the wedding presents back with them to their home so that Daphne and Harry could simply enjoy their celebration. The twins would sleep over at Andromeda's, much to the delight of Teddy, with Luna as an additional babysitter, so that Harry and Daphne had the night for themselves. After opening the cold and warm buffet Harry had danced more than ever before in his life. Daphne had insisted that he was perfect on the dance floor so they had taken lessons together. And with Daphne Harry didn't dislike dancing at all. It was after all a perfect opportunity to hold her in his arms.

Other couples seemed to share his opinion. To his surprise Neville and Hermione had become a couple after the breakup between Hermione and Ron. Neville was happy to let Hermione work at the Ministry and be successful in her field while he studied for his mastery in Herbology. His ambition was taking over the spot of Herbology teacher at Hogwarts since Professor Sprout had told him that she wanted to retire in a few years and would like him to become her successor. Their friends from the DA were also present and there were Susan Bones who dated Terry Boot, Parvati Patil with Seamus Finnegan and Earnie Macmillan with Hannah Abbot. George was dating Alicia Spinnet and Oliver Wood was also there with his fiancée Lara Flanders.

Luna was keeping herself entertained and baffled others with her creative theories.

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**Now only one chapter will follow. Till next week.**


	11. Time Flies

**Okay, here is the last chapter. Thanks to all of you that favoured and followed this story. I hope I managed to wrap this story up properly and didn't leave any major loose ends. I have some other stories in work but they're not ready for publishing yet. Enjoy the chapter.**

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**Time Flies**

**Time skip 5 years**

Daphne Potter gleefully sat in the audience when her hated step-mother Stella Greengrass was sentenced to five years at Azkaban for running an illegal business with dark artefacts. She had found out about it from Harry who worked as an auror full time now and she couldn't help but silently celebrating how now nothing stood in her way to reclaim what was rightfully hers anymore. It was really stupid how Stella had tried to make more profit than the legal businesses brought in with dealing with dark artefacts that had been left from the time of Voldemort's second rise. The aurors were massively more competent than back then and there were no sympathetic members of the Wizengamot left that could have helped her.

While Astoria was now married to Draco Malfoy, why she didn't refuse to marry the arse after he had finished his time at Azkaban she really couldn't understand, every normal contract had a loophole including a fine for breaking a clause and getting convicted for a crime fell under that clause, the two had no power to refuse her the control over the remainder of the Greengrass estate. She really couldn't imagine that her father would have been stupid enough to void the criminal clause. Draco wasn't well-liked and had no political influence and had only barely managed to take his NEWTs two years after being released from prison. Before that he had had to constantly do his community work. Not to mention that spending two years with dementors wasn't good for the mind. The remaining dementors were stuck at Azkaban, a new scheme of wards that Hermione had come up with in cooperation with Harry and Padma Patil had seen to that. All existing dementors had been herded back there and then were placed in warded rooms.

The wards had a similar effect as a patronus but were more powerful. If the dementors tried to pass the wards they would be burned and too much contact would see them destroyed. Harry had come up with the idea of creating a ward that imitated the effects of a patronus charm but didn't need to be powered by a wizard all the time a year after the war. Hermione and Padma had worked out the runic scheme and Arithmancy behind it. With how the dementors tended to follow one dark lord or another they couldn't be trusted and their world had needed a reliable solution for the problem. The dementor's kiss had been abolished as a punishment as taking care of the soulless shells was costing too much. Those that committed the worst crimes were now pushed through the veil. The dementors now couldn't glide around anymore but their presence still kept the prisoners under control. Daphne really didn't want to imagine how Stella would look after the five years. Draco had looked horrible after just two.

As the oldest remaining Greengrass descendent without any close connection to criminals and current or former prisoners, her father didn't count as she had still been at school when he committed his crimes and the actions taken by Stella against Daphne were well-known, all the businesses that filled the Greengrass vault would now come under her control. A little bit of help from Tracy who worked at the Ministry in the Department of Business Regulation and Commerce, which was tasked with overseeing businesses to make sure none of them were illegal, and she would become listed as the new owner of those businesses. She knew that she could make sure that the ingredient farm and the crystal mine could be managed a lot better and bring in more profit again. And it would ensure that Stella would be broke once she got out of Azkaban. Right now there wasn't a lot that remained of the Greengrass fortune. While she had heard rumours that Stella had managed to reduce her expenses to one hundred and fifty galleons a month, really that woman was just wasting money for useless things, the businesses only brought in five hundred galleons profit per year.

Which really wasn't what they could bring in. Years of mismanagement and nepotism for the top positions had led to leeching the profit away from them. She was sure with a rigorous cleaning of the management positions and a little expertise from Neville their plant-based ingredients would soon double the profit made. Neville had discovered a few methods how you could improve the quality of the plants and the quantity of plants cultivated by several means. He was the foremost expert on Herbology in Europe now. And Harry had come up with the idea to employ werewolves that signed contracts to make sure to always take wolfsbane potion the week prior to the full moon for the creature based farms and to expand the products they delivered. She hadn't thought about this possibility. Werewolves were desperate to get paid work and would even take slightly dangerous jobs if it meant they could earn their living.

Harry had used the example of Remus Lupin to point out how ridiculous it was to let people that couldn't choose their situation crowd around extremists because the Ministry made their lives hell. He had managed to get the werewolf laws that Umbridge had helped create abolished and had set up a reasonable set of laws that stated that werewolves could take up any job that they were qualified for as long as they agreed to take any necessary security precautions on the nights of the full moon. Many were not fully convinced but some had decided to give it a try and were doing well with their werewolf employees.

Werewolf children, and sadly there were a lot of them thanks to Greyback after the war, were allowed to attend Hogwarts under the stated security precautions. Professor McGonagall had been very open to the suggestions and Harry had set up a fund to assure that the school always had enough supplies to brew wolfsbane for the full moons. The Shrieking Shack had been renovated and was again used to house the children for their transformation. It was a security precaution to ensure if a batch of potion was faulty that no other children were in danger. With information and education prejudices were slowly taken down. All students at Hogwarts knew that werewolf children were allowed to attend but that security precautions were taken. Discrimination against those children wasn't tolerated and after some strict following the new rules with detention and point deduction those that had prejudices were kept silent.

A similar concept could be used for the mines. House elves were suited best to prospect for crystals thanks to their unique magic. After Hermione's laws they only needed to treat the elves properly and make sure that none of them were overworked. That was easy. She didn't know why Stella had so many problems getting the mine profitable. House elves liked to work after all. And most of them refused payment as it wasn't proper. So there was no need to fret over having to let them take breaks and get enough sleep, food and water. She would exchange the management again and that would be that. A head elf could watch over the work and report the progress, take care that all elves were healthy and that the crystals were ready for shipment to the buyers. Both parts together could easily earn about two thousand galleons each year in net profit. The most expensive parts in both businesses were the massively overpaid managers.

If she had calculated correctly about eight thousand galleons were left of the Greengrass fortune and that didn't take into account that there probably would be fines to pay. She couldn't do anything about Greengrass Manor, that property was going to stay Stella's seat of residence for a while, that much was part of her marriage contract with Daphne's father, but maintaining it after she got out of prison wouldn't be easy. And once the gold was gone she would have to offer it to Daphne for getting some gold to live from. And then Daphne could be really vindictive. After all, Harry and Daphne lived from about sixty to seventy galleons a month and had three children to raise not to mention that Harry liked to spoil his family including his godson occasionally.

Not that they couldn't afford a more expensive lifestyle, they didn't want it. Harry had grown up poor and abused by his relatives and knew how to live with little gold. She had always been taught the worth of gold by her maternal grandmother who had been her most important confidant as a child until she died when Daphne had been ten. Harry earned two hundred fifty galleons each month as an auror and she got eighty as a part-time healer at St. Mungo's. That didn't include the gold that Harry's book sales added to their family's vault. She had been really surprised when Harry told her how much you could buy in the muggle world with a galleon. Of course she knew that one was worth a lot, but to find out that one galleon was about fifty muggle pounds and that you could buy a week's worth of groceries for their family from it was a shock.

Harry had invested some of his gold from the books in young enterprises that were promising. His start-up money led to him gaining shares in the businesses and normally he had a good hand for choosing them. Not only was he part-owner of WWW, he also owned a fifth each of Seamus Finnegan's pub and Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown's beauty salon. And she knew that the two girls were really good at their job and their salon was regularly frequented by all kinds of witches. She was a customer there herself. While Lavender had lost some of her good looks from the attack of Greyback in the battle of Hogwarts, thankfully Hermione had blasted Greyback off of her before he could kill her. She had some nasty scars but they weren't too bad.

After the trial she looked at her wrist watch. It was nearly time to get Cas, Sody and Lily back from Andromeda who had looked after the three for the morning. Lily was her and Harry's third child and she had been born two years ago. She and Harry had decided that they first wanted to both have finished their training as an auror and healer before they continued increasing the size of their family. They had decided that two more children after the twins would work out perfectly. Overall a lot of couples now had children after the first years of cleaning up after the war had been over. The first ones to have a child were Bill and Fleur whose first daughter Victoire had been born in May 2001 which was followed by their second daughter Dominique one and a half years later. The next ones had been George and Alicia with their son Fred two months after that. They had married a year after Harry and Daphne.

Then came Lily and a year after Hermione and Neville, who had married two years after Harry and Daphne, had a boy called Reese. Others who had married were Susan and Terry and Oliver and Lara. Of the other Weasleys only Percy had got married but they didn't have much contact with him except on family celebrations where they were always invited. She wondered what Harry would say when she told him that she was pregnant again. Healer Cobalt whom she trusted more than any other healer after her first pregnancy had just confirmed it yesterday. She was contemplating how she would tell Harry this time. With Lily she had baked a cake and drawn little shoes on it. It was funny to see his reaction and his anticipation for the whole nine months of pregnancy contrary to the one month he had had last time.

* * *

Harry was holding his new-born son in his arms. He had been surprised when Daphne had handed him a present with a card which read 'open in eight months'. He had needed some time to puzzle the clue out but he had been incredibly happy that they would have another child. For this child he had got her permission to name him James Sirius after the two men who had been his fathers in his life in case it was a boy. They had named Lily after both their mothers, so her name was Lily Regina. His life had been good since he had married Daphne even if there had been some downsides. Ron and he had a major fight after Ron only got two NEWTs in Charms and Defence when he attempted the five classes he had taken in sixth year. Ron had been completely unreasonable and blamed everybody, especially Harry, for forsaking him, for his bad results. As Harry had already cut all ties with Ron over his accusations that Harry was turning dark because he had married Daphne, Harry hadn't been willing to let Ron sprout that nonsense again and had returned fire when Ron started hexing Harry.

It had been sad to see the remaining Weasleys less but after Ron had moved out of the Burrow Molly had again offered to look after the children when he and Daphne couldn't. Ron now worked as a shop assistant in the Magical Menagerie which wasn't at all the glorious and luxurious life he had estimated after winning the war. He had never really grown up. And he only got the job because the owner was an old friend of Arthur Weasley who had pleaded to let Ron have the job. He was a low level worker and in charge of getting new deliveries into the shelves and cleaning the cages.

After passing his final exam at the auror academy after two years of training Harry had started working as a junior auror with Proudfoot as his partner to show him the ropes. It had been interesting in the beginning but Proudfoot thankfully was a competent auror and Harry learned a lot about how the theoretical skills he had learned at the academy could be used on the job.

His most embarrassing raid had been on a clubhouse. Supposedly the ones meeting there were planning to attack prominent members of the Ministry, him included. Turned out that it was one of his fan clubs and the members there hadn't been unhappy about the auror raid at all as it gave them the chance to ask for his autograph. Proudfoot hadn't let him forget that mission for months. By now Harry was a fully qualified auror and had already led a few missions himself. Common problems were remaining members of Greyback's pack causing trouble, even with the new laws, some Death Eater wannabes trying to regain former influence or a real Death Eater causing trouble. Though the latter were rare as the interrogations of the caught Death Eaters had given them most of their names and they had hunted them down massively after the war.

The twins would soon start school. It had been Hermione's idea to set up a primary school for magical children. She was really successful at the Ministry and Kingsley, who was still Minister, had no problems with realising her ideas as long as they were beneficial for their world. One suggestion for a law that Harry had made had been to locate any magical children in muggle orphanages and place them in wizarding homes as foster children to avoid the circumstances that had produced Voldemort. Hermione had taken the idea and set up a muggleborn children protection bill that included Harry's idea and also created a new department at the Ministry that located muggleborns when they first did accidental magic to inform the parents what was going on and offer a place at a magical primary school and better information on what the parents should do to keep bouts of accidental magic far and between.

Even the traditional purebloods could see the advantages of having their children at a pre-school for Hogwarts where they would learn basic skills like reading, writing, some basics about harmless magical creatures and plants, how the wizarding world was hidden from the muggle world and so on. Basic brewing skills were also taught as nearly everybody remembered how difficult Potions classes under Snape had been and how much knowing the basics would have helped.

It had been easy to decide on Lily's godparents though. Luna got to be godmother and Stephen Cornfoot became godfather. For James they had already chosen George as godfather and Susan as godmother.

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**Time skip 5 years**

It was time. He had known that this day would come but it was still much sooner than he had thought. Today was the first of September and Cas and Sody would start their first year at Hogwarts. They were really excited to go to Hogwarts. While they had already learned a lot of things at primary school they would only now get to use spells and had only got their wands after their Hogwarts letters had arrived early in July. Lily and James were complaining that they couldn't go to Hogwarts too but they were too young. Harry could remember overhearing another younger sibling ask her mother if she couldn't go with her siblings when he had been on his first trip to Hogwarts. Compared to him though his children were much better prepared and they already had some friends that would be in the same year as them. House rivalries weren't a concern for the Potters as their parents had been in the two houses that had the strongest rivalry.

If Harry had to guess he would say Cas would either be Ravenclaw or Slytherin, coming more after his mother while Sody would be a Gryffindor. No matter what, he would support his children in any house. By now he had made a name for himself as an auror and Daphne, even with her having to take a break from work after Lily was born for a few years, was a respected healer.

The twins were looking forward to seeing their friend and basically cousin Teddy Lupin again at Hogwarts. Teddy had started at Hogwarts last year and had written a lot of letters about how much he liked school. Teddy had followed his mother into Hufflepuff and was very happy about it. Neville who had had a bet going on with Harry had had to pay five galleons because his guess had been Gryffindor. Perhaps because he was the head of Gryffindor now. Harry had been sure that Teddy would become a Hufflepuff with his sense for fair play and loyalty.

After finding a compartment for the twins in the middle of the train and giving them some sickles to get some sweets from the snack trolley he told them to study well and have fun. He and Daphne hugged them and told them to write after the sorting as they wanted to know where they had been sorted. Otherwise they were told by Daphne to behave properly. Both promised and then climbed onto the train. Once the train left the station Harry looked at his wife and couldn't help but smile how one decision twelve years ago on Beltane had massively changed his life. One decision made while he was in dire need of a distraction from the war had given him what he had always dreamed of as a child. A family of his own. He couldn't be happier right now.

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**Okay, that's the end of this story. Thanks for staying with it until the end.**


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